162 BREEDS 



their produce has been found to be relatively rich, may only 

 give milk averaging from 3 to 3-2 per cent., and this quality is 

 fairly certain, in the course of time, to bring the owner more 

 than once before the magistrates. Thus, besides frequently 

 supplying the public with inferior goods, the owner of unim- 

 proved Dutch cattle is likely to find his legal expenditure robbing 

 him of much profit, even when he has a deep-milking herd. 



This last-mentioned characteristic cannot be assumed to 

 belong to all the cows now spoken of as "British Friesland" 

 when the magic word "imported" is not prefixed to their name. 

 On the contrary, the Black and White Dutch Cattle bred in 

 England for several generations without any admixture of im- 

 ported blood an impossibility between 1894 and 1914 and 

 without any controlled or systematic selection of breeding 

 stock, are apt to vary just as much as any lot of milk-like looking 

 cows, whether registered pedigree or mongrel stock. They are 

 found to give, when in full profit, anything from 550 to 1,000 

 gallons of milk in the 10 months following the third and subse- 

 quent calvings. 



The difficulties of establishing good milking qualities among 

 these cattle are not so great as to deter our breeders from the 

 attempt. Only an ignorant person could believe that the English- 

 men who have won the admiration of the whole world as ex- 

 hibition live-stock producers are likely to fail if they turn their 

 attention to the production of good milkers. It may be safely 

 asserted that the British breeders will, if they so wish, in the 

 course of a few generations place their own Friesian cattle in 

 the highest possible class for quality and quantity of milk; and 

 we know that in regard to milk-production the stock belonging 

 to the best Dutch breeders is capable of giving very high yields 

 of moderate quality. In this respect our home breeders have 

 a very severe task in front of them, and they know it; but they 

 may be trusted to be large-minded enough to profit by the 

 wisdom of others and to use the same scientific methods which 

 their competitors have used for some 30 years with sch suc- 

 cessful results. 



Granted that the necessary skill can undoubtedly be found to 

 accomplish all this, one is still bound to wonder whether this 



