THE BEST BREEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE. 19 



were breeding improved "Durhams," copious milking was held 

 to be important, and the old " Teeswaters " of two or three 

 centuries ago were celebrated for yielding larger quantities of 

 milk than any other breed yet known in these islands. An 

 ancient record is said to be still preserved in Durham, and to 

 state that cattle of great excellence existed in the county as 

 long ago as the middle of the fifteenth century. The cattle 

 alluded to were progenitors of the Shorthorns which have 

 become famous the world over in our own time. 



High in the north-east tower of Durham Cathedral, outside, 

 there is in high relief a statue of an unmistakable Shorthorn cow, 

 with the milkmaids standing by. The original statue dated from 

 about the year 1300, and the tradition attaching to it relates to 

 the monks of old, who, when lost, were directed on their way 

 to Dunholme now Durham by the dairymaids, when they 

 were taking the body of St. Cuthbert for re-interment where 

 the cathedral now stands. The statue was put in from gratitude 

 to the dairymaids, whose cows had strayed to Dunholme. 



It can hardly have been from an undesigned development of 

 the lacteal organs that these ancient cattle should have given a 

 copious wealth of milk ; for it is generally accepted that such a 

 departure from what is known to be general with wild herds of 

 cattle, and with not a few tame ones, is a natural function 

 artificially developed. Nor can it have been, when the Short- 

 horns of old roamed wild in the forests and vales of the northern 

 counties of England, a question of climatic requirements on the 

 part of the offspring, for this would tell with greater force in 

 Scotland, none of whose original breeds have been much cele- 

 brated for milk. Indeed, in view of the modern fact that 

 fashionable Shorthorns had been so far bred away from milk 

 that wet-nurses were required for the calves, we may reasonably 

 infer that as the milk-yielding capacity of a breed of cows can 

 be diminished by the control of man, so can it be developed 

 when an opposite line of conduct is pursued. But it must be 

 remembered that neither can it be diminished nor developed in 

 one generation, or two, or even in three or four, to such an 

 extent as to entitle it to be regarded as hereditary. 



