POLLED DURHAMS 99 



majority of the cattle are pure though not with pedigree record. 

 Any connection with Coates 1 Herd Book is a very poor recom- 

 mendation to the ordinary practical dairy farmer in the non- 

 pedigree Shorthorn country, and reduces the value in the 

 dairy cattle market of animals of both sexes. Many of the 

 cattle are light in colour, and a favourite colour for a bull is 

 a light mealy roan (Plate XVIIL). Cows of the best class are 

 sold to go out of the district at or round 20 ; conspicuous 

 specimens, to be trained for showing, fetch up to .30 and ^35. 

 There is an unlimited demand for heifer calves at 2 each 

 a white calf, not being in favour, may fetch only 255. Heifers 

 calve at three years old on the uplands, but at two in the 

 vales, and are at that age most likely to develop into good 

 milkers. The milking qualities of this section of the 

 Shorthorn breed are dealt with at page 306. 



The Polled Durham is an offshoot of the Shorthorn 

 breed which originated in the State of Ohio about 1870, 

 and which has been cultivated on account of the advantages 

 derived from the absence of horns on the open range and in 

 a country where both store and fat animals frequently travel 

 far to market. (See footnote, p. 1 50.) 



The breed consists of two distinct sections (a) double 

 standard, and () single standard. The first are pure bred 

 Shorthorns eligible for registration in the American Short- 

 horn Herd Book and in the Polled Durham Herd Book. The 

 second were bred from native " Muley " cows, crossed through 

 succeeding generations with pure Shorthorn bulls until they 

 are now practically pure by crossing. 



Muley cattle are, according to H. F. Euren, the 

 descendants of the hornless cattle taken from East Anglia 

 to Virginia by colonists who, on settling, called the district 

 Norfolk. At that time there was on the western borders of 

 Suffolk a polled breed of heavy milkers of the Shorthorn type. 



Professor H. W. Mumford, of Illinois University, con- 

 firms the Shorthorn relationship on the score of appearance, 

 and adds to the authoritative record of the breed as follows : 



" All along the Potomac, in Virginia, ' muleys ' are 

 numerous, and they are found occasionally in other sections 

 of the country. Just what the origin of these native muleys 

 was, it is not our purpose to discuss, but a majority of them 



