AGKIOITLTURE. 221 



in the state are of pure Spanish blood, but there is a consider- 

 able number of American cows and half-bloods, which are 

 constantly increasing in number, while the Spanish cattle are 

 decreasing. Most of the American cattle are in the Sacra- 

 mento basin and the coast valleys north of Monterey, while 

 along the southern coast they are very few in number. 



During the last four or live years about seventy-five pure- 

 blood Durhams, twenty-five Devons, and four Ayrshire bulls and 

 cows, have been imported across the Isthmus of Panama. The 

 freight on the steamer and railroad, from New York to San 

 Francisco, for a bull or cow, is two hundred and seventy-five 

 dollars. The food is carried free of charge, but the owner must 

 find a person to feed and take care of the animal during the 

 voyage. Some of these imported animals are of the best English 

 stock. The better the blood the larger the beeves grow, and 

 the more readily and rapidly they fatten. The Spanish cattle are 

 too uneasy ; they run about so much that they lose flesh. The 

 half breed American cattle are more quiet, the full-blood Ameri^ 

 can still more quiet, and the Durham the best of all. But as our 

 beef cattle get no food save such as they pick up in the open 

 country, I doubt whether it will pay to import these pure-blood 

 Durhams to improve the breed. The excellence of the Durham 

 is caused by care in breeding, protection against the weather, and 

 an abundance of good food ; and the excellence cannot be main- 

 tained without a continuance of the same system of manage- 

 ment. The Durham will, in a few generations, cease to be a 

 Durham, if he gets no food save such as he can pick up in the 

 valleys and hills ; but if carefully fed, he will, of course, do as 

 well here as elsewhere. It is said that the Durham needs suc- 

 culent food ; if so, the blood will soon degenerate on the dry 

 grasses of California. The Devon stock, which has been praised 

 by the importers of it as peculiarly fitted to thrive on our in- 

 digenous grasses, has not found much favor. Our dairy cows 

 are the only ones which are well taken care of; and therefore 

 the Ayrshire blood is really more needed, and likely to be 

 better preserved, than either the Durham or Devon. Roots 



