78 



FARMERS' REGISTER— AMERICAN NATURALIST. 



galloways would gel fat; while in the Highlands of 

 Scotland even galloways could not live. Yet in 

 that bleak country is Ibund a breed ol' cattle per- 

 fectly adapted to their situation: small, compact, 

 and hardy, beautiful to the eye of a grazier, and 

 much better beef than the large breeds ot the 

 south. Indeed, the richest lands do not ])roduce 

 beef or mutton of so good a quality as lands of 

 inferior lijrtility, especially of their own rearing. In 

 some fine parts of Scotland the Improved .Short 

 Horns have driven out the native breeds; but, on 

 the whole, the Scotch cattle excel all others in 

 their situations, and there are districts ol" this 

 country, such as the northern slope of the Alle- 

 ghanies, &c. where it is probable the Highlandere 

 woiUd answer well. A iew galloway catde were 

 several years since introduced by some Scotch 

 setders in Caledonia, Livingston county, New- 

 York, but have long been mixed, and are now 

 said to be lost. West Highlanders, for bleak 

 mountaiti lands, and Ayrshires for the dairy, would 

 be a national acquisition.— Look at the noble pre- 

 miums given yearly by the Scotch Highland Soci- 

 ety for ttte improvement of their domestic animals 

 and for the promotion of agriculture in every way. 

 At their exhibition at Stirling, in 1832, the pre- 

 mium for cattle alone amounted to 361 sovereigns, 

 for about 1730 dollars, and in like proportion for 

 sheep, swine, horses, &c. This looks Uke bemg 

 in earnest: the subscribers know that they are 

 spending their money wisely for an object of na- 

 tional importance. It would be no difficult matter 

 to buy at a Scotch fair ten or twenty A>Tshire 

 cows, which would look as if all cast in the same 

 mould, and Avhich would yield, lor three months 

 after calving, twenty-four quarts each per day, and 

 60 on in proportion. These cows, too, would 

 graze kindly when dry. The Northern Short 

 Horn, used in the dairies wliich supply London 

 with milk, shows in perlection the art of breeding 

 for a particular purpose, and these breeds are in- 

 valuable. Yet in a drier climate and different 

 soil they might not retain their (lualities. 



Importing cattle is an expensive and hazardous 

 business. To make it answer, several men in 

 difierent quarters ought to combine their efforts, 

 and unity of jnirpose and perseverance must be 

 found in all of them. This would be a very diffi- 

 cult matter. But selections from the stocks around 

 him is in the power of any man who has capital 

 and judgement. Cattle here are much better than 

 sheep; tor, except some merinoes and Saxony 

 sheep, the native kinds are a strange medley, but 

 all bad, wanting symmetry and weight. The main 

 object of this letter is, that all stock should be 

 adapted to the soil they are put on. I have Leices- 

 ters degenerating on lands where Chevoit sheep 

 would have done well; and merinoes put on rich 

 deep lands, Avhere heavy sheep would have got 

 fat. Short Horns, too, may be seen on lands 

 where they do not find themselves at home. 



Yours, H. 



AUDUBON, THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. 



John James Audubon, a native of Louisiana, 

 has been Irom earlj^ youth addicted to the admira- 

 tion of nature. In a" beautiful country, teeming^ 

 with animal and vegetable life, the profusion of 

 which at first tended to render him undecided as 

 >o the particular path which he ought to pursue, he 



at length, struck by the beauty and variety of the 

 leathered tribes, their manners and occupations, 

 their wonderlid migrations and their mysterious 

 instincts, resolved to make them the principal ob- 

 ject ot' his study. A pure passion gave energy 

 to his mind. He studied nature, not with the 

 view of iauTiortalizing his name by his discoveries, 

 nor even with a desire ol' infusing a portion of his 

 spirit into his tellow men, much less with the hope 

 ol' increasing his pecuniary stores, but sim])ly from 

 an instinctive inqjulse, an admiration of, a love for, 

 the objects that manilestedto him the attributes of 

 their JUivine Author. To perpetuate their rcmem- 

 bran.ce, and render them ever present to his mind, 

 he first tried to preserve their skins. But their 

 laded tints, the stillness which could not be avoid- 

 ed hi restoring them to shape, and the consequent 

 want of seeuiing animation, 'determined him to 

 represent them by the pencd. Numberless draw- 

 ings were made, but year after year they were 

 consigned to the flames. At length, beginning to 

 be somewhat pleased with his attempts to imitate 

 nature, he commenced a collection of drawings, 

 which, after more than twenty years of almost 

 unremitted observation of the habits of birds, and 

 after he had shot and examined specimens of all 

 the forms that he could find in the vast regions of 

 the United States, at length amounted to several 

 hundred. Still lie had no other object in view 

 than that of studying and depicting nature. Fi- 

 nally, alter a visit to Philadelphia, which had 

 opened his eyes to the ways of men, he began, in 

 the solitude of the forest, to commune with him- 

 self as to the possibility of laying his labors be- 

 fore the world. "Happy days, and nights of pleas- 

 ing dreams!" says he, "whom the wise men of 

 the west had denounced as a wild woodsman, and 

 whom, even his iriend, the Prince of Musignano 

 designates as a 'painter-naturalist.' " "I read over 

 the catalogue of my collection, and thought how 

 it might be possible lor an unconnected and un- 

 aided individual, like myself, to accomplish the 

 grand scheme. I arranged my drawings, improv- 

 ed them as much as was in my power; and, as I 

 dady retired liirther from the haunts of men, de- 

 termined to leave nothing undone, which my labor, 

 my time, or my purse could accomplish." The 

 "grand scheme," however, was destined to be 

 accomplished, — at least it is in progress. Mr. 

 Audubon left America and came to England. Hia 

 native country was either unable to appreciate his 

 genius, or unable to aid his efforts, and England 

 did both. The Americans may justly be proud of 

 their achievements, and no people can be more 

 disposed to boast of their good qualities; but, al- 

 though they may boast of an Audubon, they must 

 leave to England the merit of having fostered 

 him. 



"As I approached the coast of England," says 

 he, "and for the first time beheld her fertile shores 

 the despondency of my spirits became very great. 

 I knew not an individual in the country, and al- 

 though I was the bearer of letters from American 

 friends, and statesmen of great eminence, my situ- 

 ation appeared precarious in the extreme. I ima- 

 gined that every individual whom I was about to 

 ineet might be possessed of talents superior to 

 those of any on our side the Allan tici Indeed, as I 

 for the first time walked on the streets of Liver- 

 pool, my heart nearly failed me, for not a glance 

 of sympathy did I meet with in my wanderings 



