258 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



to perpetuate and accentuate distinctive qualities, and to 

 the exclusion of all other cattle from the Island. The 

 method of tethering, which has always prevailed on the 

 Island, may have had its influence. 



An organized attempt was made to give a fixed beauty 

 of form to the Jersey about 1835, when, says Colonel Le 

 Couteur, a few gentlemen selected two beautiful cows 

 with the best qualities as models. One was held to be 

 perfect in her barrel and fore-quarters, the other equally 

 so in her hind-quarters. From these two, a scale of points 

 was laid down to be the rule for governing the judges at 

 the cattle shows of the Jersey Agricultural Society. 



At an early period, steps were taken to keep the breed 

 pure by preventing outside cattle coming into the Island, 

 and in 1763 an act was passed which has since been rigidly 

 enforced, and supplemented by the further acts of 1789, 

 1826, 1864 and 1878, prohibiting the landing of cattle on 

 the Island except for the purpose of slaughter. Even 

 before the enactment of laws, the purity of the cattle was 

 maintained by the persistence with which the Jerseyman 

 clung to his own breed. Every effort to introduce other 

 cattle, even from England, has been invariably rendered 

 futile by the inhabitants. 



The Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural So- 

 ciety, organized in*1833, has been one of the chief means 

 of improving the general character of the breed on the 

 Island, and of developing its valuable dairy qualities. In 

 1836, the Society recommended that one superior bull be 

 kept in each parish, and that encouragement be given to 

 keep first-rate heifers in the Island, as the high prices 

 offered were strong temptations to export them. . In 

 1838, it enacted at least two new rules. One was to the 

 effect that any person withholding the services of a prize 



