194 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



resented in this countiy by good herds and by organized 

 associations of breeders. The three distinct breeds are the 

 Galloways of southern Scotland, the Angus or Aberdeens 

 of the north, and the Red Polls of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 counties in the south of England. The stock that I bred 

 was from a cross of the Suffolk with the Jerseys. My expe- 

 rience in breeding^ from that stock tausjht me that horns are 

 not only useless on our cattle, but that they are worse than 

 useless. They are a nuisance that ought to be abated. 



It may be thought that oxen should have horns to hold 

 their heads in the yoke ; but if a yoke is properly fitted, so 

 that an ox can do his best both at pulling and backing, it will 

 rarely touch the horns. It is the bad-fitting yoke, with bows 

 too wide or too large, that requires the horns to hold back 

 by. It is true that a polled cow in a herd with horned cat- 

 tle will sometimes learn to rule the yard. I once had such 

 an animal before I began breeding them. A polled cow that 

 knows how, and finds she must fight to save herself, can 

 whip any horned cow of her size, for the horned cow cannot 

 hold the head of the polled animal, and the latter easily slips 

 by and hits the shoulder of her adversary in a tender place. 

 I have bred perhaps a hundred polled cattle, have had thirty 

 on hand at a time, have had only polled bulls during the past 

 sixteen years and have kept them till well into years, but 

 among them all there has never been a vicious animal. I 

 could turn my whole herd of thirty, of all ages from the ma- 

 ture bull or cow to the yearling heifer or unweaned calf, into 

 a small yard together and feel that they were all safe. As 

 many would drink together from the same trough or tub as 

 could crowd their noses down to the water, young and old 

 drinking together promiscuously. I have never had a " mas- 

 ter" cow since I bred polls, and every dairy farmer knows 

 what that term means when applied to a cow. It means that 

 no other cow can leave the yard, go into the stable, or drink 

 at the tub, till it suits the pleasure of the master cow. It 

 means that if another master cow happens to be purchased 

 from another farm and the two are turned loose together, that 

 it is likely to be death to one, or battles all summer. After 

 getting an entire herd of polls I was not kept awake nights 



