42; 



NEW ENGLAND FARTVrER. 



[Sept. 2, 



the fcrlihiy ol (lie s;roiin(l, and tlio moisture 

 of the cli:iia(p, the herljiijje spniiij quickly al- 

 ter eacli mowin'r : so t!i:it In,' cut the income four 

 times ami the clover Ihrpn lime?, d'lriH^ Ihe pph- 

 son, producing each lini'' j^ood crops. Tlie cow 

 was not sufTerftd to grn/.e ; l>ut all llie green crops 

 were cut and given to her in a ruck in her hov- 

 el. In summer she had daily, at nocjn, half a 

 bushel ot hreiver's grains and a peck of hran 

 mixed together. Her milk was so rich lliat on 

 an average, a lillle less than 9 quarts yieldeii a 

 pound of butter If instead of lirener'- grains 

 (a watery food) Indian corn meal had been giv- 

 en, her milk would probably have been as rich 

 as that of O ikes" cow, of which about 7 quarts 

 made a pound of butler.* 



lu regard to Ihe lireed of Cramp's cow, 1 re- 

 marked, that f lie belonged to neither of Ihe high- 

 est improved Rnglisji breeds — the long horns or 

 short horns ; biil was of Ihe proper old Sussex 

 breed ; of which the evidence i« introduced by 

 Mr Cramp, and [niMishnd in the Massachusetts 

 Repository, vol. IV'. no IV. p. .?34.t 



The Su-sex breed, Marshall says, very much 

 resemble Ihe Hereford cattle ; and both are con- 

 sidered by English writers, to l)e nearly related 

 to the Devnns — a breed despised by .Mr I'oivej. 

 The rich miikinifqualilyof, Sussex roivs may have 

 been derived from ancestors of the Normaii or 

 Alderney breed. Sussex county lies on the north- 

 ern side of the English channel Opposite to it, 

 on the southern side, lies the province of Nor- 

 mandy, whose Duke, between seven and eight 

 hundred years ago, crossed over with an army of 

 Norman-French — landed in Sussex— encounter- 

 ed Ihe English army, killed their king, and as- 

 ascended his throne. Ijut lie and his descend- 

 ants, kings of England, held po'^session of Nor- 

 mandy fo^r nearly 20U years; during which, an 

 intimate intercourse was kept up, ami multitude- 

 of Normans went over to England, carrying with 

 them, unquestionably, great numbers of the Nor- 

 man race of cattle,]; of which llie Aldi-rneys 

 were a family, and originally doulilless of pre- 

 cisely the same character; Alderney being an 

 island belonging to the Duchy of Normandv. 



• Mr Cmmp kept an account of the quantity of milk 

 {jlvcn by his cow, dnringf the fivf yrars. Mr Oakes 

 nientionrd the quantity j^lvcn liy his cow in one day 

 only, in .Inne or .Inly, bting- 17 quarts. In those two 

 inonllis. liis cow aviiaijed 17 II).". of butter s week. — 

 Hence J calcnlattd that 7 quarts of her milk yielded a 

 jiiund of hnller. 



t Mr CmmpV «falemi-nl i" in tliese words: 



•'The follnwin<r i'" Ihe pedijne of the row In qne«- 

 linn, which I n crived from Mr llnlmnn, a respectable 

 larnier at Bentley. in thi- county of Sussex. 



" The cow helon;;in«i; to Mr C.'ranq) was bred by John 

 Holman (rny falhir) at IVntley, in Fromfield, in the 

 oounty of Sn»5eii,fioin a Sussex bred row. also bred by 

 .'ohn Ifolman on the ,snn)e farm. Phe was jot by a bull 

 bred by Mr Colpjate, at llampslead farm. In Fromfirld 

 aforesaid, the father of whieli bnll was also bred by Mr 

 (;olg,itc, lor which he received a |iri/c cnpat I'elworth 

 on the ;20lh dav of iNovenihtr Mi6, She was calved 

 m March K-f'.')." 



Oz^rThe year " 1726" mast be an error donMIess of 

 the press ; fur it was only t)ie t^raridsire of Mr Cramp's 

 > ow, for which the prize cnj) was a awarded — perhaps 

 ja the year 17fl2- 



I Since writing this parasfravih I have met with a 

 /■I mark of Mr l>ov;eirp, in his Ai'.dr.-sa delivered before 

 .the .Ma"sa( Imsitts Agricultural Society, in October 

 V.^AU. whicli ?i»es a sanction to my eonjertnre on (he 

 introdncli'in of Norman cattle into faijland. He s:iys 

 ■■ Our barbarous ancestors in Grent Britain onlv pos- 

 sessed, at the tiaie of tho Norman (Jufiqnesl. a mi^era- 

 Mh race of ^ai all black cattle, whi.h we should not 

 jivraijt to eiicumbcf o-jr »oU.'' 



and only about 20 miles distant from the main, 

 land. But when Normandy, overrun by the ar- i 

 mies of the kiiijs of France, was ceded to thai 

 crown, ibe English retained Alderney ami "ome 

 other inlands near that coast, and hnbl ihem to i 

 lhi« day. This would account for the frequent 

 mention, by English writers, of Alderney cows, | 

 which probably continue to be nccasionally in- 1 

 Iroduced into England; although in some parts I 

 of it they have an e-lablisbed stock. "In Ihe j 

 dairies of Ihe Isle of V\'ight, as well as those ofi 

 some parts of Hampshire, the Alderneys pre- 

 vail much, and are highly esteemed for but- 1 

 ler."* — [Hampshire county joins Sussex.] If, 

 Mr Cramp's cow is a sample (an exlraovdinary i 

 one indeed) of Sussex cows, it will not be deem- ' 

 ed an unnatural conjeclure, Ihat their milking' 

 quality, especially in the superior richness of Ihe 

 milk, is derived from the ancient Norman race; 

 of which, as 1 have said, the Alderneys area, 

 branch. 



Mr Pouel. against much counter evidence of 

 their intrin'^ic worth, speaks most contemplu-' 

 nusly ot the Alderney cattle. " Of the unlhrifty, 

 dwarfish, and savage race, called .Mderneys. ' 

 (says he) I have for fifteen years had ample ex- 

 perience: and in the same p:iragraph he calls j 

 ihem " Ibis wretched breed." Yet the "Com- 

 plete (irazier," a distinguished p',ngllsh work, (W'i 

 whicli Ihe -llh edition published in lillG, is now j 

 before me — a work written and collected by an 

 English grazier — thus describes Ihat " wretched ; 

 breed.'" — " The Alderney cows are very rich 

 milkers ; llieir flesh is high coloured, fine grain- ; 

 ed, and of excellent flavour,"— Mr I'owel, in lii« ' 

 Memoirs of the I'ennsylvania .Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, again notices the Alderney cattle, nstciiaibly 

 as de-^cribed by p^ngli'^h writers nn Live Slotk. ; 

 In what he offers as " Extract" from Lawrence's! 

 General Treatise nn cattle," I find»(a; page Of, 

 of the Memoirs) the following passage. " Tiie ■ 

 .Mdcrney and Norman cattle. The cattle ofl 

 Ihe inlands on the French coast, f are, 1 believe,] 

 collectively known by the name of Alderney. ' 

 Tiiev area variety of and smaller than the Nor- 1 

 man ; li<jiit red, vellow, dun and fawn coloureil ; 

 short, wild" [probably wide] '-horned, deer- 

 necked, with a general resemblance to that ani- 

 mal ; Ihin, hard and small boned ; irregularly, of- 

 ten very awkwardly, shaped.'"— Here Mr I'ow- 

 el slops; and exhiliits a specimen of his manner 

 of making Extracts, by leaving out such pas- 

 sages in the authors, professed to bo quoled, 

 as it m:iy be convenient to emit. Had hi* 

 o'liissions been conformable to his own avowed^ 

 rule, 1 should have had no occasion to notice 

 them on t!ie present subject. 



In his letter to .Mr Skinner, Editor of llie Amer-] 

 ican Farmer, presenting lor his use, the Me- 

 moirs of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, 

 to which that letler is (irelixed — Mr I'owel says, 

 •'You will perceive, that various extracts have 

 been made, williout reganl to Ihe arrangement 

 of the autliors from wboui ihcy are taken, as it 

 was necessary, occasionally, to ninll pnssnars iii- 

 appliaiblc to ihe circiiinslancr.s niid cunJilinii oj this 

 coiiiitni, and to pais by others which, av iherj in- 

 volve abstruse scientific ilistiuisiiiutts. are not suit- 

 ed to the peculiar views of our inslilulion. — It 

 we have violated the etiquette established among 



*■ U(-es' Cyclopedia, article Dniryinir, 



t I.nwrenre's words, as quoted in tho .Mass. Ajric. 

 Ileposilory, «r( — " Ihc .\lderuey and Korman taltle on 

 the Krencli coast." 



authors, we trust we shall be forgiven, as we are 

 farmer", not sritcrs."' 



Now Id us see how Mr Powel regards his 

 own rule. After the passage he cited, ending 

 with "often very awkwardly shaped," Law- 

 rence thus goes on — " This description [ef the 

 .■\i<lerne\e] refers cliiefly to Ihe cows; iluy are 

 ainoiig thi best milkers in the n-ortd, as to quality 

 and ill llial respect are eilher before or imme- 

 diately next to Ibe long-horns ; but in -a-eight nf 

 butter, for their inches, they are for superior to alt. 

 I h.ve tieen assured b\ a resjieclable liienil, Ihat 

 an Alderney strayed cow, during Ihe three 

 weeks she was kept by the finder, afforded nine- 

 teen pounds nf liiilier each week ; and the tact 

 wa" hehl so extraordinary as lo be worth a mem- 

 orandum in the Parish book." Lawrence adds 

 " The Norman and Island cattle make fat yory 

 quick, and for their bulk arrive at considerable 

 weight. The beef is of the first class, very- 

 fine grained, in ccdour yellow, or of that hii'h 

 colour with a blueish cast, and elastic feel, which 

 denotes the closest gralnerl, most •avoiy and 

 finest meat." — Now 1 a«k,— Is therein this con- 

 tinuation of Ihe Extract from Lawrence, which 

 Mr Powel has omitted, any thing inapplicable 

 to the circumslanres and coiidiiidn nf this coun- 

 try? on the contrary, i> not the information 

 it contains highly inlerestinsr to every American 

 l.irnier who. like my friend Mr Haines, is seek- 

 ing for one of Ihe best brtteils of bntler-yieldlnn- 

 cinvs in the world? — I further ask— Does the 

 continuation "involve abstruse scien'ilic dis(|ui- 

 srtions?" On the contrary, what could be more 

 plain and intelligible?—! am indebted for this 

 continuation of the Extract from Lawrence to 

 the Massachusetls Agricultural Repository, vol. 

 1\'. no. Ill, pageCG'-'; which with other extracts 

 from the same work, occupies ten pages.* I |i;ive 

 never seen Lawrence, nor C'ulley, nor Parkinr 

 son, on live-stock ; nor. fill within a tVw davs 

 got a sight of the Complete Grazier. My frienils 

 the E<litors of the Mass. Agric. Ucpository.give 

 me credit for much more reading than 1 am en- 

 titled ;o. 



Mr Powel says " he does not pretend. thai ^I'or- 

 man catlle, from which they [ihe Alderneysl 

 were derived, are not thril'ly and good.'"t This 

 admission in respect lo the A'orinnn race was 

 necessary in order to preserve some consisten- 

 cy : lor he quotes from Lawrence a passage in 

 which that writer ascribes most important im- 

 provements, in Ihe norlbern Short Iforn.t, to 

 their being crossed wilh Ihe Norman or .-JWcr- 

 ney bulls. The passage as quoled in Ihe Cyclo- 

 peilia (article Cattle) from Lawrence, who there 

 quotes Culley on live stock, runs thus : " (he ex- 

 treme coarseness and size of the northern Short 

 Horns led, he [Culley] thinks, to the introduc- 

 tion of Norman ur Alderney liulls, at some peri- 

 od of the eighteenth cenlury, wilh the precise 

 date of which we are unacquainted," and he sup- 

 poses " there never was a more fortunate cross, 

 as in no other country exists so excelleni a 

 breed of cattle, including all the useful proper- 



* The F.xtracts from Lawrence, in llie Repository, 

 were raade hy Dr. l)ext(r, when Fresidert of the .Mns- 

 sachusetts Agricultural Society ; and I cannot doubt 

 they were corn ctly made. He was not a dealer in live 

 stock ; nor had any favourite met to rrrnnxvMnd ahore^ 

 and tit tilt fXflu.rinn of all others ; nor any concei\-able 

 motive, by al'rralions or omissions, lo keep out of sijjht 

 any informalien which he thought might be' utctul (a 

 his lillow citizens. 



t Memoirs of the Tenn. Agric. Society, page 5-1. 



