358 THE YEAR-BOOK OP AGRICULTURE. 



avoided. The most perfect mules are not to be expected from the excessively large, coarse- 

 boned jacks, or excessive high feeding, but from the laws of nature carried out to the greatest 

 perfection by skilful breeding and feeding. 



"An error has existed for many years, and still exists, concerning the size of mules. Size 

 has been made a measure of value in the mule, almost regardless of form and spirit, and so 

 it has been in their sire, the jack. 



"I have been employing a mule team for twenty-five years in the cultivation of cotton in 

 Mississippi, and my team now numbers one hundred. In this time I have used every variety 

 of the mule (except the most inferior kind) that has ever been grown. At the commence- 

 ment of planting operations, I adopted the prevalent error that size was the measure 

 of value, and pursued it for many years, much to my prejudice. By long trials, and by com- 

 paring the relative performances and lastingness of the large team which I have used, aided by 

 observation and reflection, I am fully satisfied that the medium-sized mules, full of spirit and 

 action, with a neat, firm leg, and a round body, with his levers Bet right for easy motion, his 

 head and ears up, ready to move at the word, is the animal of most value of his kind." 



Improved Cattle for the^Dairy. 



THE following is an abstract of a communication addressed to the Secretary of the Ohio 

 State Board of Agriculture, by George Vail, Esq., of Troy, New York, and published in the 

 Ohio Farmer, on the most approved cattle for dairy purposes. Mr. V. is well known as one 

 of the earliest importers and most careful breeders in the United States : For a number of 

 years he imported and bred Shorthorns exclusively ; but as his farm was not well adapted to 

 grazing, and after fully proving what might be done with that class of cattle, he sold his 

 herd in 1852. Being partial to improved stock, he has, since his sale, been getting by im- 

 portation, and selection in this country, a small and excellent herd of Devons. He says : 

 "This breed of cattle is my choice next to Durhams. So far as I have tried them, I am of 

 the opinion that when placed in localities where pasture is abundant, they may prove profit- 

 able to the breeder. The sprightly action, uniform color, and fine symmetry of the Devons, 

 added to their intrinsic value, will render them popular when they become known." 



Mr. V., in his communication, says : "You ask if for the small farmer either of the im- 

 proved breeds of cattle will meet the public expectation, when we breed for milk and fatten- 

 ing qualities in the. same animal, or whether a cross with the Holderness, or other breeds, 

 would improve their qualities for all uses ? In answering this question, I will premise by 

 saying I am aware that many Durhams have been bred with special reference to their aptitude 

 to take on flesh, without much regard to their milking qualities ; consequently, many of these 

 are unfitted for the dairy. There are, however, families or tribes of Durhams possessing 

 superior dairy qualities, and when no longer useful as milkers, on account of age or other 

 causes, may be turned off, and will then take on flesh about as rapidly as those which are 

 bred exclusively for the butcher. If I am correct in this opinion, then I am prepared to 

 hazard the assertion, that no useful result can be arrived at by crossing the Shorthorn cow 

 with any other breed, with the prospect of improving upon the dairy qualities of the best 

 milking families or tribes of Shorthorns which may be procured in this country. That there 

 are tribes of such Shorthorns, that are not inferior to the best native dairy-stock in the 

 country, I think there cannot be a doubt. If so, then it is obvious that it would be a waste 

 of time to attempt to rear a new breed of cattle for dairy purposes : as such experiments 

 would occupy many years to test their utility, it is believed that no practical breeder would 

 attempt it. 



" I now proceed to show that there are specimens among Shorthorns of this country which 

 are superior to most if not all of the breeds of this country for dairy purposes. In 1844, 

 the New York State Agricultural Society offered a premium for the largest quantity of but- 

 ter, to be the product of six cows, of any breed, in thirty consecutive days, the cows to be 

 kept upon grass pasture or green fodder, and not to be allowed slops or other feed for thirty 

 days previous to and during the trial. In order to test the dairy qualities of the Shorthorns, 

 compared with other breeds, and thus give the great dairy interests of the country an oppor- 



