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DutcH oR HOLSTEIN CATTLE.—The following article, written by 
Charles Mueller, esq., United States consul at Amsterdam, with a view 
to its publication in the reports of the Department of Agriculture, was 
communicated to the commissioner by J. E. Whiting, esq., of Concord, 
Massachusetts, to whom it was addressed : 
“Dutch cattle—Holstein cattle—are they kindred or distinct breeds? If kindred, 
what qualities do they possess in common, and in what do they differ? If distinct, 
what are their respective merits and demerits?” 
Questions of similar tenor have poured in upon this office from different parts of the 
Union in such profusion that I almost felt duty bound to prepare a reply somewhat 
exhaustive of the subject. I hereby submit it. 
I do not claim originality for the production, it simply being a compilation of ex- 
tracts from standard works, some of which might not be readily accessible to the 
American cattle-breeder, and of scraps of information gathered from the lips of differ- 
ent scientific and practical cattle-breeders of Holland. Of the latter, none but acknow!l- 
edged authorities were consulted, many of the informants at this moment holding 
prominent and responsible positions in various Dutch agricultural societies. 
In one of your letters you ask: 
‘Are, or are not, the general dairy-stock of Holland, including South as well ds 
North Holland, Utrecht, and Gelderland, as well as Friesland and Groningen, commonly 
considered, in Holland, as of one race or breed ? 
“2, Are the cattle of any portion of Holland known or recognized.as Holstein cat- 
tle, to distinguish them from cattle of other parts of Holland having a different origin ; 
or have you in Holland a favorite breed presumed or believed to have originated in 
Holstein ?” 
Both questions have long since been definitely settled, historically as well as physi- 
ologically. 
Historical authorities upon the subject are numerous, and they generally accept 
Dutch cattle as the parent stock of not only the present cattle of Holstein, but of 
many other well-known European breeds. 
Extracts from all the works examined in furtherance of this communication would 
lead to too great voluminousness, for which reason only the more prominent authors 
are cited. As it is, it becomes necessary to go back some ways toward the days of 
Adam in order to gain a proper starting-point ; and I hope your patience may be ade- 
quate to,the tediousness of the perambulation. 
Scientific farming flourished in the Netherlands* at atime when in other countries 
agriculture stood where the Roman invader had left it;t and there is every reason to 
believe that many appliances of modern farming were known to, and made use of by, 
the Dutch peasantry of remote days. At the agricultural museum of Utrecht may be 
seen machines handed down from immemorial times, which, beyond all doubt, served 
‘to facilitate the process of thrashing, mowing, and other agricultural operations. 
However, extended remarks upon this head would here be ont of place. Moreover, 
through Mr. Motley’s works on the Netherlands, the American reader has fully been 
made aware of the singularly high degree of Dutch agricultural advancement during 
the Middle Ages. , 
This glaring agricultural superiority of the Dutch could not, even at that period, 
remain unknown to other nations. As a natural consequence, foreign potentates and 
ecclesiastical magnates exerted themselves to securé the services of Dutch and Flem- 
ish farmers for their own selfish purposes—a development of agricultural resources 
necessarily increasing princely incomes and church-tithes. Thus Dutch settlers found 
their way to divers parts of Europe, taking with them their cattle and farming imple- 
ments. It is, therefore, not surprising that such authorities as Professor Law, of Edin- 
burgh, L. Raw, Arthur Young, and others, trace the descent of the celebrated *‘ Short- 
horns” of England to Holland. 
Borchgravet shows that as early as 1087 William Rufus, who had espoused a Flemish 
princess, called Dutch agriculturalists to England; and under his snecessor, Henry I, 
several Dutch settlemepts took life in Pembrokeshire, while a flourishing Dutch colony 
is reported in Yorkshire in 1111. In 1430 a large Dutch colony was founded in Scot- 
land.§ The high estimation in which Dutch cattle must formerly have been held in 
England may be inferred from the fact that in 1601 the legislative assemblies of the 
provinces of Holland and West Friesland presented, through the agent Caron, as & 
valuable gift, six Dutch milch-cows to the lord high admiral of the British Empire.|| 
The first Dutch colony in Germany (Thuringia) dates -back as far as the year 525, 
and still recalls itself to mind by such names as the towns of Friesenteld and Belge- 
* The Netherlands as they formerly existed—the present kingdoms of Belgium and Holland. 
+ Meiner, Hist., vergl. II 
+ Borchgrave, Emile de : Histoire des Colonies Belges. 
§ Ibid. 
|| Koenen: Geschiedenis van den Boerenstand. 
