168 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



animals. They are almost invariably black and white in color, 

 spotted, pied, or mottled in picturesque inequalities of propor- 

 tion over the body. The horn is short, and the hair is short, 

 fine and silky. The lacteal formations in the cows are wonder- 

 ful, thus giving them their preeminence in the dairy. Our 

 illustrations will show these prominent characteristics so plainly, 

 that further description is unnecessary. 



It was but recently that this valuable breed of dairy cat- 

 tle, in their now improved condition, except in a few casual 

 importations, found their way to America. The late Mr. 

 William Jarvis, of Wethersfield, "Vt., one of the celebrated 

 importers of Merino sheep, in the early part of the present 

 century, brought out a bull and two cows, and put them on his 

 farm, where he bred them successfully for some years. They 

 were crossed with the common cattle of his vicinity, and after 

 some years the pure blood became lost. People were careless 

 of pure blood in cattle in those days, not much knowing or 

 appreciating its value. 



The late Mr. Herman Le Roy, a distinguished merchant of 

 New York, between the years 1820 and 1825, imported some 

 improved Dutch cattle into that city, and kept them on a farm 

 in its vicinity. Some of them were, about the years 1827-8-9, 

 sent to the farm of his son, the late Edward A. Le Roy, on the 

 Grenesee river, in that State. We saw them, and their produce 

 there, in 1833. They were large, well-spread cattle, black and 

 white in color, and remarkable for their uncommon yield of milk. 

 The younger Mr. Le Roy soon after imported several short- 

 horns- from England, with which the Dutch cows were crossed 

 not because he disliked the Dutch, but more probably because 

 the short-horns stood higher in popular favor, and more generally 

 in request by the cattle breeding public. In the herds of both 

 father and son, the pure breed was lost, as none but grades were 

 found in the herds subsequent to the sale of the farms of these 



