198 Singing Valleys 



amount of milk she gives and the quality of it depend very 

 directly on what she is fed, and how much of it. That is some- 

 thing which we have learned in the past century. 



The first English colonists in this country hastened to im- 

 port cattle. In 1624, Edward Winslow brought to Plymouth 

 "three heifers and a bull, the first beginning of any cattell of 

 the kind in the land." "The land" meant Massachusetts; Vir- 

 ginia had had cattle before John Smith returned to England. 

 A great many of the beasts perished during the sea voyage. 

 John Winthrop notes in his Journal for July, 1630, 



The Mayflower and the Whale arrived safe in Charlton harbor. 

 Their passengers were all in health, but most of their cattle dead, 

 whereof a mare and a horse of mine. 



And in October of the same year, the same diarist records: 



The Handmaid arrived at Plymouth having been 12 weeks at 

 sea, and spent all her masts and of 28 cows she lost 10. 



Captain John Smith, in speaking of the storms of the Atlantic 

 and the perils of the supply ships, adds, "Of 200 cattell what 

 were so tossed and bruised, three score and ten died." 



One might think that beasts which were transported with 

 such difficulty would have been so valuable that their owners 

 would have tended them jealously. On the contrary. In Eng- 

 land, at the time, farm animals received little care. Cows 

 grazed summer and winter alike. The colonists brought these 

 casual methods with them. A cow might be given a few corn 

 husks and some wheat stalks; but for the rest of her food she 

 was supposed to forage. As the wild American grass was quite 

 different from that of the lush English meadows, the beasts 

 became thin and diseased. They gave small quantities of milk, 

 and this for only a short period in the year. During the bit- 

 terly cold winters they huddled in thickets, or crashed into the 

 marshes seeking food there. In Virginia, it was estimated that 

 the number of cows which died every winter would supply the 

 Negroes and indentured servants with hides for shoes. When 



