190 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



The following is the number of horses and mules on hand in the army June 

 30, l&Gii, together with those purchased, captured from the enemy, and also 

 those that have died, been lost and sold, from that date up to May 31, 1864, as 

 furnished from the office of the Quartermaster General : 



Imperfect, however, as is this paper, it is respectfully submitted with a hope 

 that it contains some hints and details of practice that will be of some use to 

 the American agriculturists. 



SHORT HORN CATTLE. 



This breed has attained a distinction and won a substantial appreciation 

 which no other race has so fully and widely enjoyed among the enlightened 

 graziers of the world. From Great Britain its dissemination has extended to 

 the continent, to Australia, to South Africa, South America, Mexico, and the 

 West Indies, while it has secured almost a monopoly of the importations of 

 this country and of Canada. For the grass pastures of the Ohio valley, and 

 the abundant, natural, and cultivated grasses of the broader prairies of the 

 Mississippi region, it is admirably fitted, and held in high esteem as the most 

 economical machine for the speediest conversion of corn and grass into meat 

 and money. 



THEIR ORIGIN. 



The original short horns occupied the east of England, Yorkshire, and the 

 valley of the Tees at the date of the earliest records of British stock-growing. 

 They were various in size, color, and other peculiarities ; the dark-skinned 

 herds of the fens resembling the black cattle of the Holland marshes, and the 

 finer forms of Yorkshire and Durham assuming the style and quality of the 

 noted cattle of Holstein and Jutland ; and yet it may not certainly be known 

 whether the ancient immigrants from those localities brought this stock to 

 England, or whether this similarity is the result of climate and keeping. It 

 was, at least, a race very distinct from that of Ireland and the west of Eng- 

 land, with long boms, thick skins, and a heavy coat of hair, well suited for 

 their protection in a climate subject to continuous seasons of rain. It is well 



