366 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



be expected to maintain her extraordinary power of secreting 

 milk in so large quantities, and hence, though the Dutch race 

 laid the foundation of the stock of the Middle States, its supe 

 riority as a milker docs not seem to have been fully sustained. 



Nature has done more for the race of cattle along the marsh 

 districts of Northern Europe, extending from the confines of 

 Holstein around to the borders of France, a distance of some 

 hundreds of miles, than art or the skill of man. The soil .s all of 

 a low and sWalj character, formed by the accumulated deposits 

 of successive ages. The whole country is intersected by slug- 

 gish streams and still more sluggish canals, the banks raised so 

 as to prevent the rush of the tide over the green and smiling 

 farms. The land, of course, is extremely rich and fertile, a 

 magnificent stretch of lowlands, much of it diked in with 

 incredible labor from the treacherous sea, and covered here and 

 there with low"*and comfortable farm-houses and a thrifty, 

 honest, and hard-working class of farmers. The soil and the 

 moisture of the climate are exceedingly well calculated to lead 

 to an extraordinary development of the cultivated grasses and 

 other forage plants so important in nourishing a large race of 

 cattle. On such a soil and in such a climate we should expect 

 to find the grass-feeding animals of all kinds attaining a size 

 not generally found in other circumstances. 



There are some general characteristics to be found in all the 

 cattle of this long and fertile stretch of m.arsh region, though 

 they are divided into many distinct races, all due to local influ- 

 ences, rather than to any systematic effort at improvement. 

 The Dutch may be regarded as a type of them all. It belongs 

 among the larger races of cattle, though its bony structure is 

 said to be only a little above the average in weight. The head 

 is usually small and fine, the horns of medium length, stout and 

 inclined forwards, the neck long and sunken or curved, with 



