168 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



horns: "I have always tried to keep this quality in view, 

 as one of those without which no animal could he really up 

 to the high ancestral mark. We have had at Grasmere, since 

 1824, more than two hundred cows that gave over five gallons 

 a day. Thirty-five of these gave eight gallons or more ; sixty- 

 three gave between six and eight ; one hundred and two 

 between five and six gallons. This, it cannot be denied, is a 

 good record, yet it must be remembered that the system pur- 

 sued at Grasmere renders it impossible to test the milking of a 

 cow till after she has passed beyond the prime period of her 

 milk. The calf is here the first consideration. When the 

 calf has had all it wants we take what is left. This goes on 

 til] the calf is at least six months old. After that we take 

 the milk, and it is on the basis of cows from seven to nine 

 months in milk that I draw my estimates." 



Mr. Miller, a Virginia farmer, as early as 1783, long 

 before the days of herd books, imported cattle that it has 

 been demonstrated beyond a doubt were short-horns, and so 

 marked were their milking performances that they were 

 known as the milk breed. Their descendants were sold to 

 Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and other neighboring States, 

 under the name of the milk breed. It is recorded that it 

 was not uncommon for cows of this family to give thirty-two 

 quarts of milk daily. 



There were numerous importations into Massachusetts 

 from the year 1817 onward, for several years. In the year 

 1822 the cow Arabella was brought over. This cow pro- 

 duced the numerous family called by her name. They were 

 excellent dairy cattle. In 1823 the cow Annabella, with 

 some bulls, was landed in New Bedford. Her name w^ill be 

 found near the bottom of very many pedigrees of New Eng- 

 land short-horns. We need not blush to see it there, for her 

 pedigree is made up of a combination of the best of the old 

 bloods. 



]Mr. Ambrose Stevens, in the " Kentucky Live-Stock Rec- 

 ord," Vol. v., speaks of Annabella and her daughter Emma 

 as being fine milkers, and that in those early days all their 

 descendants in New England had that reputation. Confirma- 

 tory of this is a note to the first pedigree on page 96, Vol. 

 IX., which states that Cora, a descendant five removes from 



