SIIORT-IIORNS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 1G5 



best bull of tliJit day. To this bull many of our New Eng- 

 land short-horns trace. 



After breeding in a close line with his Duchesses for some 

 3^ears, Mr. Bates brought the Princess bull Belvedere for an 

 out-cross, and, a few years later, brought to his herd another 

 infusion of Princess blood, by the purchase of the cow 

 Matchem, thus uniting the blood of these two noted tribes of 

 short-horns. Princess and Duchess. He, however, called all 

 that he bred from them, Duchesses. From this management 

 of jNIr. Bates have sprung the cattle which have sold at such 

 monstrous prices ; witness the 8th Duchess of Geneva, which 

 brought at public sale $40,000, and the 10th Duchess of 

 Geneva, which, at the same sale, brought $35,000. But here 

 it should be said, that Mr. Bates, unlike his successors, 

 always set high value on the milking quality of his cows. 

 History tells us that his dairy was also noted for the very 

 superior quality of the butter made. The Matchem cow, 

 brought into his herd as an out-cross, was described by him 

 as an excellent milker. The bull Belvedere was also from 

 first-class milking stock. The first Princess cow had a re- 

 cord of thirty quarts of milk per day. 



Mr. Bates died in the year 1849, and his herd was dis- 

 posed of at public sale, and many of the animals found their 

 way to. this country. Since Mr. Bates' time the dairy qual- 

 ities of this noted tribe of short-horns have not been fos- 

 tered. The enormous prices which they have commanded 

 have precluded any but rich men from attempting to com- 

 pete for them. Their breeders have turned their whole at- 

 tention to symmetry of form and beef qualities. Still, here 

 and there, we hear of a noted milker of this family. But 

 breeders of these high-priced, fancy cattle have sought to dry 

 the cow as soon as possible after calving, that she might the 

 sooner become presentable for exhibition. It is not at all 

 remarka))le that such a course, followed from generation to 

 generation, should breed out the dairy qualities. 



But all the short-horns of England were not in such hands, 

 and so escaped this treatment. The tenant farmers had 

 learned their value for general-purpose cattle, and, encour- 

 aged by their landlords, had increased their herds of this 

 breed until they had, at this date (1850), become the cattle 



