MILCH COWS. 195 



with us, but dries up as soon as the calf ceases to suck, revert- 

 ing to a complete state of nature. 



In this country we have no indigenous, distinct breeds of 

 cattle. The only native American bovine stock found here on 

 the discovery of the continent, was the buffalo. What are called 

 natives, are a heterogeneous mixture of various breeds, intro- 

 duced at various times and for different purposes, and left to 

 cross or mingle as chance or convenience dictated. From a 

 mass of mongrel blood and ill-assorted races sprung our so- 

 called natives. In breeding from them, the difficulty is to per- 

 petuate a fixed type, so prone is a chance-medley of blood to 

 revert to its original elements. The natives, though possessing 

 some desirable qualities, are generally faulty in form, slow in 

 reaching maturity, poor handlers, and raw-boned. They pos- 

 sess the one desirable trait of hardiness, and the cows are tol- 

 erable for the dairy. Owing to tiieir origin, the natives have no 

 fixed hereditary traits, and even those possessing desirable traits 

 cannot be relied upon as breeders to produce progeny of a like 

 excellence. Instead of constancy, there is continual variation 

 and frequent breeding back, exhibiting the undesirable traits of 

 inferior ancestors. Among the natives are found many excel- 

 lent milkers ; and were a careful selection made, and a deter- 

 minate course of breeding adopted, there is little doubt but that 

 out of our common material there could be originated with 

 judicious crossing a much improved breed, suited to any given 

 district, that might rank well as dairy animals. 



Stock-breeding requires time, patience and skill. It is said 

 to take from seventy-five to one hundred years to develop a 

 distinct breed. The tribe of cattle known in this Common- 

 wealth as " the Cream-pots," were produced by crossing a native 

 cow of great excellence as a milker with an imported Short- 

 horn bull, and by continuing to cross him with his own pro- 

 geny until a tribe of cattle was produced possessing a certain 

 similarity. These animals, however, hardly constituted a 

 distinct breed. Though the variety of breeds of cattle in Eng- 

 land is great, importations have chiefly been confined to half a 

 dozen of the most popular ones, to wit: the Shorthorn, the 

 Devon, the Hereford, the Ayrshire, the Galloway, and the 

 Jersey. Kerry cows have recently been imported into this State 

 from Ireland. The Chenery herd from Holland, has obtained 



