SECRETARY'S REPORT. 109 



fortable farm-liouses, and a thrifty, honest, hard-working class 

 of farmers. 



It was here, especially along the more southerly and westerly 

 line, that modern agriculture in Europe made some of its earliest 

 advances. The climate is moist, and exceedingly well adapted 

 to lead to an extraordinary development of the cultivated grasses 

 and other plants, so useful in the nourishment and perfection 

 of a large and noble race of cattle. On such a soil and in such 

 a climate we should expect to find the grass-feeding animals, of 

 all kinds, attaining a size not generally observed in other cir- 

 cumstances. 



If we look over the races of cattle that have grown up as 

 natives of these low marshes, or netherlands, different as they 

 are in many respects, we shall find the same general character- 

 istics running through them all. 



Perhaps the Dutch may be taken as the most prominent type 

 of these lowland or marsh races. It is found in its greatest 

 purity in North Holland, Friesland and Groningen, but is really 

 very much more widely spread than we should conclude from 

 the size of these provinces on the map. 



On entering the grounds of the International Exhibition, the 

 stranger was struck with astonishment at the great preponder- 

 ance of these marsh cattle, which the careless observer would 

 be inclined to set down without hesitation as all of one breed, 

 but a closer inspection would soon satisfy him that black and 

 white cattle came from more countries than one. 



The Dutch belongs naturally among the larger races. Its 

 bony structure is only a little above the average weight ; the 

 head usually rather small, the horns rather short, stout, and 

 inclined forwards ; the neck is not heavy, but rather long and 

 sunken or curved, and furnished with a rather large dew-lap ; 

 the shoulders are strong and thin ; the rump large and broad ; 

 the hip, or loin, is broad, with prominent hip bones, and sloping 

 off behind ; the legs are rather long ; the thighs small. The 

 general look of the animal is rather thin than fleshy, rather 

 sharp and angular than well rounded ; but some possess a more 

 uniform structure, standing less high on the leg, more barrel- 

 shaped, and with less than the usual slope or falling off behind. 

 The hide and hair are, for the most part, mellow ; the color is 

 almost always, but not invariably, spotted, the black and white 



