SECRETARY'S REPORT. 43 



easily and make excellent beef. But having been bred with a 

 special view to milk, the oxen and steers do not mature for beef 

 so early as some other breeds, though they feed easily, and when 

 fat make excellent, well marbled beef. 



Cattle known as natives are a mixed race, and it may be 

 impossible, and is certainly a work of labor, to trace with accu- 

 racy their history. A very good account of them is given by 

 C. E. Potter, in the Transactions of the New Hampshire Agri- 

 cultural Society for 185-1. Mr. Potter remarks : 



" The first cattle brought into New Hampshire were imported 

 by Captain John Mason, from Denmark, in 1631-2-3, and '4. 

 There might have been a cow or two imported prior to that 

 time, for the purpose of furnishing milk for the fishermen ; but 

 in those years Mason made frequent importations of bulls, oxen 

 and cows, for the purpose of permanently stocking his manor of 

 1 Mason Hall. ' 



" Now these Denmarks of Captain Mason, distributed through 

 Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, soon became mixed 

 with the cattle that had been imported into the Plymouth and 

 Massachusetts colonies, and which may be mainly called Devons 

 — and formed that cross or breed of cattle denominated Natives. 

 This cross predominates now throughout New England, though 

 it has been qualified by importations of black cattle from the 

 Spanish islands, and by a sprinkling of Durham blood. Our 

 native cattle, then, at the present time, may be put down as 

 grades of Devon, Denmark yellow, Spanish black, and a slight 

 sprinkling of Durham. As before remarked, however, the 

 Devons and Denmarks predominate, as is found by the large 

 number of dark red, light red, and yellowish red cattle seen 

 among the native cattle of New England. The yellow comes 

 from the Denmarks imported by Captain Mason ; and its mixture 

 with the dark red of the cattle from Devonshire, accounts for 

 the shades of dark and light red found among our native cattle. 

 In fact, the characteristics of these Denmarks are everywhere 

 seen in the large light red, or yellowish red cattle, with branch- 

 ing horns, long gaunt frames, powerful in the yoke, and when 

 stalled, of extraordinary weight. Look at our exhibitions of 

 working cattle throughout New England, or in the butchers' 

 pens, and we shall find that the best cattle have some of the 

 characteristics of these Denmarks — showing their descent with- 



