SHORT-HORNS IN :MASSACHUSETTS. . 167 



nevertheless, are short-horns ; for short-horns had been bred 

 for scores of years, I might almost say for centuries, before 

 the first herd book was begun, and only a tithe of the pure- 

 blood cattle in the country at that time were recorded in the 

 first volume when it was published. Those owned by tenant 

 farmers, who used them for dairy cattle, though often the 

 get of the most noted bulls, were rarely recorded. You may 

 find in England hundreds of herds of the best short-horn 

 cattle in the world, none of which have ever been recorded 

 in herd books. 



But let us turn to our own country and our own experi- 

 ence. Some of the first importations of short-horns to this 

 country came to the Old Bay State. They were from herds 

 of notable milking records, and to-day we find among their 

 descendants many choice dairy animals. But at the time of 

 these early importations our farmers were very conservative ; 

 and having imbibed the mistaken opinion that these cattle 

 were of delicate constitutions and difficult to keep, came to 

 the conclusion that they were only suitable for wealthy 

 fancy farmers, and consequently they failed to reap the ben- 

 efits which were thus placed within their reach. 



Not so with the farmers of Ohio and Kentucky. They 

 saw their opportunity, and, with their neighbors of the other 

 States west of the Alleghanies, absorbed most of these early 

 importations. In these localities the short-horns have in- 

 creased and made their owners wealthy. But there having 

 been no market for dairy products in that section, the milk- 

 ing qualities were neglected. Each cow only raised her own 

 calf, and too much milk was a nuisance. The milking habit 

 not being fostered was in a great measure lost. Still there 

 are often found, even in these sections, short-horn cows that 

 make remarkable milk and butter records, showing that it 

 only needs careful attention to this branch of the business to 

 bring back even the Western short-horns to that condition of 

 excellence in dairy qualities which always belonged to their 

 ancestors. 



As showing that dairy qualities have not been entirely 

 bred out of the Western short-horns, the following statement 

 of Mr. William Warfield of Lexington, Ky., may not be 

 out of place. He says, in a late paper on milking short- 



