56 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



Many of them have been excellent milkers, and some of them 

 extraordinary, for their size. We once had two three year old 

 heifers, with their first calves, which gave for some three months 

 after calving, on pasture only, with steady milking, an average 

 of eighteen quarts per day; and from cows which we have at 

 different times sold to go to other States, the accounts of their 

 milk have been equally good. It is but fair to say however, 

 that after we commenced crossing our cows with bulls of later 

 importations, some fifteen years after the commencement of the 

 herd, the large milkers were not so numerous, although the cattle 

 from these crosses were somewhat finer. The bulls we used 

 were apparently bred from stocks highly improved, with an 

 effort more to develop their feeding properties, than for the 

 dairy. After all, our Devons yielded, on an average, quite as 

 much as any common cows we ever kept, with much less con- 

 sumption of forage. 



With all her alleged deficiencies, the Devon possesses the 

 inherent qualities of a good milker. Her dairy faculties may be 

 bred out of her by neglect of that important item, and with a 

 view to give her an earlier maturity, and more weight of flesh; 

 but even under that system, she will occasionally persist, as we 

 have known in various instances, in giving a large flow of milk, 

 exceeding many common cows of equal size. On the whole, 

 from the accumulated accounts we have received from time to 

 time, coupled with our own experience, we pronounce the 

 Devous, as a race, when bred with an eye to the development of the 

 dairy quality, considering their size, and consumption of food, 

 good dairy cows, both in the quantity of milk they give, and 

 the butter it yields. 



AS A WORKING OX. 



In this valuable quality, no animal of the same size and weight 

 equals the Devon for the following reasons : They are, among 

 cattle, what the "thorough bred" is among horses. According 



