36 AMERICAN' CATTLE. 



that breed. But, in answer to that conclusion, the first cattle 

 were imported into Boston, four years later than the Plymouth 

 colony, and Boston was called after a town in Lincolnshire, on 

 the eastern coast of England, though history is silent as to the 

 particular .localities from which these cattle were drawn. It is 

 safe to conclude that the various importations were selected from 

 the counties nearest the ports where the animals were shipped, 

 and were of such character as the people selecting them had 

 been accustomed, or were partial to, and that the herds thus 

 brought out were an aggregation of several of the different 

 breeds, which, once in the colonies, became intermixed in all 

 possible degrees, without regard to their original stock, and 

 taking such character as the fancy or taste of their different 

 owners preferred. Hence, they became here a mixed race, par- 

 taking more or less in appearance of their original blood, some 

 predominating over others. 



The Devons, red in color, clean limbed, and sprightly in 

 action, undoubtedly came over, and were many in number, as 

 their descendants, more or less strong in the original blood, have 

 shown. The Herefords, also, were here, with their larger bodies, 

 white faces and throats. The coarser short-horns of Lincoln- 

 shire, from its own port of Boston, came too, with great car- 

 casses, loosely put together, mixed colors, bountiful in milk, and 

 strong for labor. The long-horns from Lancashire, shipped at 

 its port of Liverpool, occasionally came out, as shown in many 

 New England cattle late in the last century, and early in this. 

 The polled, or hornless cows of Suffolk, and Norfolk, and possi- 

 bly some Galloways from Scotland, came, as their descendants 

 are still seen in the numerous polled cattle of Long Island, New 

 Jersev, and a few other localities. TVith many people these 

 polled cows, famous for milk, are decided favorites. It is probable, 

 also, that an occasional shipment of Alderney, or the Channel 

 Tslfind cattle, was made from the coast of Hampshire, where 



