Ve 
authorities have been searched in this connection, yet the gist of my remarks has been 
taken from Professor Hengeveld’s* great work on cattle. 
Although the human family is composed of many distinct races, physiologists have 
reduced them to five representative types, the Caucasian race taking first rank. It 
has’ preserved its distinguishing characteristics through all ages, no matter what 
changes, climatical influence, or industrial pursuit may have wrought upon one or the 
other of its branches. 
In this sense Dutch cattle may be called, and in fact are admitted to be, the type of 
all the different breeds of cattle of Northwestern Europe, and especially of the North 
Sea and Baltic regions, such as Normandy, Flanders, Denmark, Sleswick-Holstein, 
Mecklenburg, Pomerania, as far as Dantzic, and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and 
- Alderney. The cattle of Hanover, Oldenburg, the Nether-Rhine, and Belgium also 
must be classed here. ; 
The different cattle-breeds of all these countries, whether of larger or smaller size, 
whether lighter or heavier, superior or inferior as milkers or beef-cattle, possess the 
distinguishing characteristics of the cattle of the Lowlands, of which the cattle of 
Holland are thetype. Neither artificial nor natural influences have caused any remark- 
able degree of outward or physiological changes with any of them. 
As a sufficient evidence of the high estimation in which Dutch cattle are held by 
breeders, the increasing exportation of breeding stock to all parts of Europe may be 
mentioned. Nor is this exportation of recent date. Buffon relates that Dutch milch- 
_ cows were successfully transplanted to Poitou, Aunis, and the marshes of Charente, 
where they are called Flemish cattle. Villeroy makes the same statement, adding, 
however, that in the valley d’Auge* (Normandy) they are known under the name of 
Dutch cattle. Weckherlin does not rate Dutch cattle as high for their fattening pro- 
pensities as he does for their milk-yielding qualities. But it must not be forgotten 
that the present improved heavy English breeds are of Friesish crigin, and that the 
cattle of d’Ange are chiefly renowned for the enormous weight attained by them. 
Although Dutch eattle are of one common race, yet there are many varieties, in time 
produced through the influences of climate and soil, the greater or less degree of fer- 
tility of the latter particularly affecting the animal in its development. Thus the 
Dutch farmer talks of clay cattle, marsh cattle, sandy-soil cattle, and heath cattle. 
And now the question, What are the distinguishing qualities of Dutch cattle? 
1. Their milk-yielding properties, in which respect they surpass all other known breeds 
of cattle. Formerly the averege yield of a Dutch cow has been 3,000 Dutch canst of 
milk per annum. At the present day it cannot be rated at over 2,850 cans. This de- 
crease in milk-supply is not owing to a deterioration of race, but to the’ bad practice 
of overfeeding the calves, a habit which the Dutch dairyman follows in imitation of 
the example set by his ancestors, and which is carried to the extreme. 
In the nature of animals it is a fixed law that food, over and above what is required 
for sustenance and growth, seeks an outlet, thereby more than ordinarily developing 
one or the other function of the animal organism. With cattle this surplus may take’ 
the shape of fat or meat. A calf receiving more food than is required for its suste- 
nance and development must necessarily grow fat, the milk-channels not yet being 
opened. In this manner a tendency for accumulating fat is created in the young organ- 
ism at the expense of the milk-yielding properties. On the other hand, let the young 
animal be sparingly fed up to its first and timely calving, subsequently to be put on a 
more liberal supply of food, and the foundation for a large milk-supply is laid. Pro- 
fessor Hengeveld considers calving in the early part of the animal’s life, together with 
spare feeding prior to that period, one of the chief conditions of breeding good milkers ; 
because by that process, ere the animal is yet fully developed, the milk-producing 
organs are early exercised and enlarged by an increased supply of blood; in other 
words, a good udder is attained. 
2. A further physiological quality of Dutch cattle is their capacity for fattening. 
It is true, they do not attain the enormous weight of some English breeds; however, 
this fact is entirely owing to the mode of breeding adopted by the Dutch breeder, who 
prefers good dairy-steck to heavy beef-cattle. 
About a century ago prize oxen weighed 3,000 pounds, prize cows 1,200 to 1,500 
pounds. At the agricultural fair of Groningen, 1849, there was on exhibition a four- 
year old cow weighing 2,000 pounds. It is beyond doubt that Dutch cattle, and on 
their own native soil too, can be brought to as great a weight as the English and Swiss 
heavy breeds, while it is generally acknowledged that the meat of Dutch cattle is more 
palatable than that of the so-called fat races. q 
3. Another characteristic quality of Dutch cattle consists in their capacity of bring- 
ing forth large and powerful calves which are easily fattened. There are instances on 
record that fattened calves reached 400 old Dutch pounds, dressed weight. Their bulk 
and vigor endow them with considerable power of endurance, and to this peculiarity 
*G. J. Hengeveld, at this moment professor at the Veterinary College of Utrecht. 
tA gallon equal to 4.5435 Dutch cans. 
