224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The native cattle in many sections of New England resem- 

 ble the Devons in many respects, and the fact that most of 

 the early settlers were from the south of England, renders it 

 quite probable that they selected their cattle from that region. 

 The first account that we have of the importation of cattle 

 into New England, was in the ship Charity, in the spring of 

 1623, in the care of Mr. Winslow, then agent of the colony 

 of Plymouth. Their descendants show by their color that 

 they were Devons, or Devon grades. 



AMERICAN IMPROVED DEVONS. 



The first importation of improved North Devons into this 

 country was in 1817. Mr. Coke, afterwards Earl of Leices- 

 ter, presented to Mr. Robert Patterson, of Baltimore, Mary- 

 land, six heifers and one bull, Taurus (320). Taurus was 

 bred by Mr. Denny, a tenant of Mr. Coke, afterwards Earl 

 of Leicester, who paid fifty guineas for him. His dam, in 

 1820, made thirteen pounds of butter per week. Three of 

 these heifers Mr. Patterson gave to his father-in-law, Mr. 

 Richard Caton ; the other three he gave to his father, Mr. 

 William Patterson; they were all bred to Taurus. In 1835, 

 Mr. George Patterson came in possession of the herd of his 

 fiither, Mr. William Patterson, and, in 1836, imported the bull 

 Anchises (140), for a cross, from one of the best dairies in 

 Devonshire. He afterward imported Eclipse (191) ; in 1846, 

 Herod (214); and in 1852, Norfolk (266). By comparing 

 the records, the fact is apparent, that the pedigree of Devon 

 animals dates further back in this country than in England. 

 Thus the bull Taurus (320) was calved in 1816, and Imported 

 in 1817, when a yearling, by Mr. Robert Patterson, of Mary- 

 land ; Holkham (215), calved 1819; the cow Fancy (709) 

 calved 1818, and Strawberry 1st (1,062), calved 1819; 

 while the oldest record of English jDcdigrees is the bull For- 

 ester (46), calved in 1827, and Hundred Guineas (56), 

 calved in 1837, th« cows Flower (187), calved in 1820, 

 Countess (77), in 1828, Curly (92), and Pretty Maid (364), 

 were calved in 1830. Messrs. S. & L. Hurlburt, of Win- 

 chester, Conn., commenced their herd in 1819, from a pair 

 procured of Mr. Patterson, Holkham (115), and Fancy (709), 

 with additions from the same source every few years. In 



