267 



will not have a full view of the case, as intended here to be 

 presented, without a reference to them. As to what these cows 

 are stated to have done abroad, it would lead me too far to treat 

 much of that here. When a bull will bring at a public sale one 

 thousand guineas, cows more than four hundred guineas each, 

 and heifer calves over one hundred guineas apiece, we may in- 

 fer that guineas are more abundant than with us. It would 

 not be an unreasonable suspicion that a fever of the same 

 type which prevailed to so alarming a degree among us in 

 1835-6, &c., and known here as the multicaulis fever, may 

 have infused itself into the veins of some of the bidders and 

 competitors on these occasions. 



It may be premised that a very large number of these ani- 

 mals have been brought to this country, and those of the high- 

 est character, both as to pedigree and attested merits, since 

 persons of the greatest skill have been commissioned to make 

 the purchases, without any restriction as to cost or expense of 

 transportation. As early as 1825 fifty-six of these animals, all 

 of them of high blood, had been exhibited at the cattle-shows 

 in Pennsylvania, and before and since that time large importa- 

 tions have been made into Maryland, New York, Ohio, Con- 

 necticut and Massachusetts.* I have seen large numbers of 

 these cattle, and have to regret that 1 have not been able, 

 after repeated private and public solicitations, to obtain more 

 exact and authentic accounts of their products. From this 

 backwardness on the part of the owners and importers I 

 think there is reason to infer that some disappointment in 

 respect to their dairy properties has been experienced. My 

 belief is, that our expectations in this matter were too highly 

 excited ; and that qualities, for which some extraordinary ani- 

 mals among them were remarkable, I mean particularly the qual- 

 ity and yield of milk, were deemed invariable characteristics of 

 the race. In a former report I quoted the opinion of a distin- 

 guished Scotch farmer, Mr. ShirrefF, and the authority of a pri- 

 vate letter from a competent judge in England. Shirreff pro- 



* One hundred and fifty of Improved Short Horns and grade cattle were 

 exhibited at the Fair of the American Institute iu New York, Oct. 1841. 



