120 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



although there may be Ayrshire cows capable of giving 900 gal- 

 lons in the year, it would be difficult to bring half a score of them 

 together ; and that in stocks of the greater number, most care- 

 fully selected, and liberally fed, from 650 to 700 gallons is the 

 very highest produce of each in the year.' 



"Mr. Rankine concludes with giving his experience on his 

 own farm, the soil of which is of an inferior nature, arid on 

 which his cows produced about 550 gallons per cow. 



"We have entered at considerable length into this, because it 

 is of some importance to ascertain the real value and produce of 

 this celebrated Scottish breed of cattle, and also to correct an 

 error in an agricultural work, deservedly a standard one in Scot- 

 land, and which may otherwise be implicitly relied on. 



"The fattening properties of the Ayrshire cattle we believe to 

 be a little exaggerated. They will feed kindly and profitably, 

 and their meat will be good. They will fatten on farms and in 

 districts where others could not be made to thrive at all, except 

 partly or principally supported by artificial food. They unite, 

 perhaps, to a greater degree than any other breed, the supposed 

 incompatible properties of yielding a great deal of milk and 

 beef. It is, however, as Mr. Rankine well observes, on the 

 inferior soil and the moist climate of Ayrshire, and the west of 

 Scotland, that their superiority as milkers is most remarkable. 

 On their natural food, of poor quality, they give milk abundantly 

 and long, and often until within a few days of calving. In their 

 own country, a cow of a fleshy make, and which seldom proves 

 a good milker, may be easily raised from 560 to 700 pounds, and 

 bullocks of three years old are brought to weigh from 700 to 840 

 pounds weight. There is a lurking tendency to fatten about 

 them, which good pasture will bring to light; so that when the 

 Ayrshire cow is sent to England, she loses her superiority as a 

 milker, and begins to accumulate flesh. On this account it is 

 that the English dealers who purchase the Ayrshire coics, generally 



