158 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



others would find, that to purchase them at any price was in 

 the long run poor economy. 



He would not attempt to describe all the multifarious breeds 

 of cattle in the civilized world, but would confine his remarks 

 to the five leading British breeds the Alderney or Jersey, 

 the Ayrshire, the Devon, the Hereford, and the Shorthorn. 

 In size and weight the Alderney is the smallest ; it is supposed 

 to have come from Normandy, but has been improved in the 

 Channel Islands, and is greatly superior to what it formerly 

 was. It is a picturesque-looking animal in appearance, rather 

 than a strictly beautiful one. Those which he had seen were 

 mostly ewe-necked, sway-backed, high in the withers, full 

 bellied, and narrow in the girth. But he understood that by 

 skilful breeding there had been many individuals of the breed 

 made up to a symmetry and development quite creditable. 

 The Alderney, he conceded, gives the richest of all milks, but 

 little in quantity. Taken to the country, it was an active 

 animal, capable of getting a living on scanty pastures. It will 

 thrive in some degree almost anywhere with us, but undoubt 

 edly does best in districts which are the same isothermally as 

 its native land. 



The Devons are supposed to have been brought to England 

 with the Celts, and are, perhaps, rightly regarded as the oldest 

 breed of the British Isles. They are mostly a dark red, with 

 close, fine curly hair. They are a degree larger than the 

 Alderney, are heavy in the head and horn, do not carry out 

 the rump well, but are a very good animal withal. They give 

 rather more milk than the Alderney, and of almost as rich a 

 quality. They are not very heavy in the brisket, and, being 

 narrow between the shoulders, are enabled to move briskly, 

 and are thus adapted to working under the yoke, although 

 rather light for heavy draft and hence they have been improv 

 ed by a cross of the Shorthorn for oxen. The Longhorns 

 have been tried in Kentucky, but abandoned, for they did not 

 prove either famous milkers or feeders. The Devon is too 



