90 My Little Farm 



any time without risk of in-breeding. The 

 comparative results are striking. 



So far, there is not much to choose in milk. 

 The native line have it in quantity, but the excess 

 does not balance the richer quality in the red poll 

 line, and these are substantially ahead in every- 

 thing else that matters. Their milk is produced at 

 less cost per unit, and, on the same fare, they are in 

 better condition. They are very much more 

 successful to fatten, and can be fattened at any age, 

 even while they grow. They mature much 

 earlier, sometimes nearly a year. They produce 

 their calves in a shorter time from the last calving. 

 They are always in a more presentable condition 

 for sale, and can always be put into that condition 

 at less cost. In short, they are very much better 

 cows. 



At the fair, the contrast is not less instructive 

 than at home. I have not yet been able to 

 shorten the native legs enough, and to most of the 

 local buyers, an inch of leg is worth a foot of cow. 

 Their fixed meaning for " big " is mere height 

 from the ground, which would make the giraffe 

 much " bigger " than the elephant. Their 

 measure of money value follows, so that the 

 inferiority means a gain in price, and not a loss, 

 since the buyer is as much astray as the seller ; but 

 the loss in economic productiveness is plain, even 

 in the market price of the progeny when they come 

 finally to face the intelligent feeders and breeders 

 who take them out of Connaught. While the 

 buying and selling are local, the legs have it, but 



