204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the element that is looked for, of course, in the West. But 

 so far as docility is concerned, my impression is it is beyond 

 dispute. I think they are perfectly docile. 



Mr. GniNisfELL. I am breeding polled cattle. It will be 

 a lono; time before I shall succeed in ^ettinsr them. I am 

 doing it in this way. Out of a herd of twenty grade Jerseys, 

 I have six that have one or more horns knocked off. They 

 will become polled if they continue fighting long enough. 



Mr. RoBBiNS, The late R. M. Curtis of Sheffield, if he 

 were living in this day, would be a strong advocate of polled 

 cattle. His mode of removing the horn was by searing it 

 with a hot iron when it first appeared. He was satisfied that 

 it was beneficial, and was so strongly in favor of it that he 

 wished a premium might be ofiered by our society to pro- 

 mote the practice. He believed that it would save the lives 

 of human beings as well as of cattle, and that the growing of 

 the horn detracted somewhat from the strength of the animal. 

 He did not think a calf was injured in the least by his method 

 of removing the horn. He said that as people became ac- 

 customed to seeing cattle without horns, they would value 

 them as much as cattle with horns. 



The Chairman. I remember Mr. Curtis very well. He 

 was one of the earliest members of this society, and very 

 active up to the time of his death. I remember very well 

 that, within a year or two of his death, he was anxious that 

 this society should take some measures to promote the getting 

 rid of the horns of cattle by the same method which he had 

 practised with more or less success. I don't remember ex- 

 actly what it was, but I think it was searing with a hot iron 

 when the animal was very young. 



Mr. Pierce. I am getting to be something of an enthu- 

 siast over the no-horn idea. I have been breeding polled 

 cattle for several years from stock purchased of Mr. Cheever. 

 I have fourteen no-horns now, mostly young cattle, and they 

 run together like sheep. You can drive them through a 

 narrow lane and they will crowd each other, but will not do 

 any damage. They are perfectly docile and do not stand in 

 any fear of one another. If one is drinking, she will let the 

 others come up and crowd around, and they will drink to- 

 gether, as several can get their heads into the tub at once. 



