16 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



harvest fail for a single year famine would de- 

 populate the world/'* 



From time immemorial it has been the mis- 

 sion of the herd and flock to convert this rich 

 fruitage of the earth to the use of man, and one 

 of the crowning triumphs of modern agriculture 

 is found in the perfection to which domestic ani- 

 mals especially adapted to this end have been 

 brought. England has easily taken the lead of 

 all other nations in this fascinating and emi- 



* Readers of THE BREEDER'S GAZETTE have often expressed the wish 

 that this rhetorical gem might be given permanent setting in some form. 

 It was originally a part of a magazine article written by Mr. Ingalls many 

 years ago. The much-admired passage is accordingly given a place here: 



"Next in importance to the divine profusion of water, light and air, 

 '.hose three physical facts which render existence possible, may be reck- 

 oned the universal beneficence of grass. Lying in the sunshine among the 

 buttercups and dandelions of May, scarcely higher in intelligence than 

 those minute tenants of that mimic wilderness, our earliest recollections 

 are of grass; and when the fitful fever is ended, and the foolish wrangle ct 

 the market and the forum is closed, grass heals over the scar which our 

 descent into the bosom of the earth has made, and the carpet of the infant 

 becomes the blanket of the dead. 



"Grass is the forgiveness of Nature her constant benediction. Fields 

 trampled with battle, saturated with blood, torn with the ruts of cannon, 

 rr?w green again with grass, and carnage is forgotten. Streets abandoned 

 by traffic become grass-grown, like rural lanes, and are obliterated. For- 

 ests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal. Be- 

 teagured by the sullen hosts of winter it withdraws into the impregnable 

 fortress of its subterranean vitality and emerges upon the solicitation of 

 spring. Sown by the winds, by wandering birds, propagated by the subtle 

 horticulture of the elements which are its ministers and servants, it 

 softens the rude outlines of the world. It evades the solitude of deserts, 

 climbs the inaccessible slopes and pinnacles of mountains, and modifies 

 the history, character and destiny of nations. Unobtrusive and patient, it 

 has immortal vigor and aggression. Banished from the thoroughfare and 

 fields, it bides its time to return, and when vigilance is relaxed or the 

 dynasty has perished it silently resumes the throne from which it has been 

 expelled but which it never abdicates. It bears no blazonry of bloom to 

 charm the senses with fragrance or splendor, but its homely hue is more 

 enchanting than the lily or the rose. It yields no fruit in earth or air, yet 

 should its harvest fail for a single year famine would depopulate the 

 world." 



