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among the others to some extent made their progeny better than the older herds we 
have good reason to believe, particularly as the working oxen of the Eastern States, 
and their superior dairy cows, for some generations past, have been held in high esti- 
mation. This assertion may, however, be qualified by saying that the oxen were 
chiefly used in labor on the farms, and the dairy formed a considerable staple of their 
agriculture, consequently drawing closer attention to the cultivation of their cattle. 
In the more fertile soils of the Middle States, which were chiefly grain-growing, horses 
were used for labor and cows in the dairy mainly for domestic consumption, while the 
steers and bullocks grown by them were for meat purposes, or, if for labor at 
all, only for a few years, until the forests were subdued and the land made clear for 
horse cultivation, 
BREEDS OF CATTLE. 
Of improved cattle we now have several valuable and distinct varieties. A few re- 
marks on each of them must suffice; and first in order, as they are by far the most 
numerous in attracting the attention of our farmers, breeders, and graziers, I name the 
SHORT-HORNS.—Soon after the revolutionary war, and previous to the year 1800, a 
few animals of this breed were imported by two different Englishmen into the city 
ef New York. The fact of their importation is the chief thing known about them, as 
only a few results are now recognized from their breeding. One of the imported cows 
was taken back to England—‘ the American Cow,” so called, of the English Herd- 
Book—from which, afterward, many noted and valuable animals descended. About 
the same years, also, two different importations of cattle, supposed to be Short-horns, 
were made from England into Baltimore and taken to the valley of the south branch 
of the Potomac River, in Virginia, and from there, within a few years afterward, 
some of their descendants were driven to the blue-grass region of Kentucky, where 
they were carefully propagated, and in after years, crossed by bulls of still later impor- 
tations, became an important item of the cattle-wealth of that State. 
We hear of no further Short-horn importations until after the war with England, in 
1812~15. Soon afterward, several importations of them were made into New York, 
Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. They were industriously bred 
by their enterprising owners, and the valuable qualities of their own distinct bleed, 
and the improvement through their crosses upon the common cows of the country for 
most useful purposes, soon gave them a popularity and dissemination attained by no 
ether breed, and since followed by numerous importations into many of our States and 
the Canadas. They now stand largely in excess of numbers over all other foreign 
breeds put together. The various merits of this breed it is not now necessary to dis- 
euss, aS different opinions may be entertained regarding them, but the fact may be 
stated that their recorded pedigrees in the Herd-Book now number more than 60,000 
well-bred animals, and at the present time they are increasing more rapidly than at 
any previous period in their history. 
Devons.—This is a strikingly distinet breed in form and quality, medium in size, 
uniformly red in color, comely in appearanee, and of decided excellence: the ox for 
labor, as his agile form indicates; the cow for milk, when cultivated for that object, 
and the uniform excellence of their flesh when properly fed and matured. Nor can 
there be any doubt of the original distinctive blood of the Devon. Their advocates 
in England claim them to be as ancient in blood and descent as the Roman rule in 
shat island, many hundred years ago; but by what evidence, other than in their pecu- 
liar style of form and character, is not known. That animals allied to them in bleod ~ 
were brought to America from England so long ago asin the seventeenth century is al- 
together probable, as many of the native New England cattle, for many generations 
back, have borne strong resemblances to the Devon in some of their characteristics. 
The first authentic knowledge we have of thoroughbred Devons being imported to 
eur couutry was in the year 1817, by Messrs. Caton and Patterson, of Baltimore, Md., 
and in the next year by the late distinguished statesman, Rufus King, of Long Island, 
N.Y. By those gentlemen they were bred and cultivated, and herds from them consid- 
erably disseminated in different sections of the country. Later importations of them 
have been made into Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and some other States. 
There are now several fine herds of them existing ia different sections of the country, 
but, we regret to say, not in the numbers which their good qualities should command, 
but of excellence quite equal to the original importations. It is hoped that they will 
still farther increase, until they become numerous among the standard breeds of our 
eountry. 
HEREFORDS.—Next in order of improved cattle this breed may be named. The first 
distinct account we have of thoroughbred ones of the kind were an importation by the 
great Kentucky statesmen, Henry Clay,in the year 1816. An ardent admirer of fine 
stock, he saw them in England in 1815, and purchased two pairs of bulls and cows, 
which afterward came out and were placed on his farm at Ashland, near Lexington. 
