STOCK-HUSBANDRY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 193 



tic than pei'liiips any other breed, have very insignificant 

 horns, compared to the horns of the half-wild cattle of 

 Texas ; but they have too much horn still. The Jerseys, 

 another breed that has been greatly modified by man, — 

 or woman, for in the Channel Islands women take the chief 

 car.e of the cows, — have very small, weak horns, which 

 are easily broken off in frolic or in battle ; but still too 

 many remain unbroken, particularly on the heads of the 

 bulls. 



While I was writing this paper the mail brought me a let- 

 ter from a New Hampshire farmer-philosopher, concerning 

 horns on cattle. It was short, had no w^aste words, and 

 reads thus : " Chickens that feather young are hard to raise. 

 Fowls stop laying w^hen they moult. What does it cost to 

 make horns? There is no hair upon them to keep them 

 warm. There is no coverino^ of fat over the blood vessels in 

 the horns to protect them from the cold. What does it cost to 

 warm the blood that is cooled in the horns ? There is noth- 

 ing in animal economy too small to be of interest." Can 

 any one detect any flaws in that philosophy ? A great many 

 pigs have lost their tails because of the common impression 

 among farmers that it takes a peck of corn to gi'ow a hog's 

 tail. I will not attempt to decide the question whether a 

 peck is too large or too small an allowance ; but certain it is 

 that to grow all the pigs' tails in the country requires a great 

 many bushels of corn. So, too, it requires food to grow 

 horns ; and the point made al)out the cost of keeping the 

 horns warm in a climate like ours, where the w^inters are 

 long and cold, is a point that is not badly taken. But my 

 principal ol)jection to horns on domesticated cattle, is because 

 of the danger to each other and to their attendants. 



It was something more than sixteen j'ears ago that I 

 became interested in hornless cattle. There were at that 

 time, as now, three distinct and Avell-known breeds of cattle in 

 England. Doubtless, polled cattle were occasionally imported 

 with others to this country from England and the Continent, 

 as there have been polled animals found in our herds all 

 through the States for many years ; but at the time I began 

 to breed them I knew of no pure-l)red herd of them any- 

 where in this country. Now, the polled breeds are all rep- 



