NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Published by JOHN B. RUSSELL, at th.- cornt^' off 'ongress and l.inHall ^^lrect<=, Boston THOMAS G. FF.SSEXnF.N, Editor. 



•^ nvfn^' 



VOL. IV. 



ORXOXNAXi COlCaSgSJaO ATZOIiTS. 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1825. 



No. 10. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



COLONEL PICKERiNG, 



ON IMPROVING THE NATIVE BREED 



OF NEW ENGLAND CATTLE. 



Letter IX. 

 It wns an imposing idea which was prpsenled 

 by Mr Powel, in his ohservalion, " lhnt the ex 

 erlioiis of the English Calllo Bropders had beo 

 dinetcd by the scknce ot' Sir Joseph Bnniif, Sir 

 John Sebriijht and Cline." Sir Josppli was di-- 

 (inafiiishrd for his science and literaliire, or he 

 would not have lieen elprted President of the 

 Royal Society: yet I hplieve that the DisJdeij 

 FARMER, Robe'rt Dakereell, belter understood the 

 principles, and infmilely better tlie practice, of 

 improving the breeds of cattle, and other do- 

 moslic animals, than the whole band of rnu.oso- 

 PHERS composing that celebrated fraternity. — 

 Of Sir Joseph Banks and Sir John Sebright, h 

 reference to the breeding of cattle, 1 have al- 

 ready taken the liberty to express my opinion 

 I now add, that from the fact, that Sir John Se- 

 brjght's letter, " on the art of improving the 

 breeds of domestic animals," was printed at the 

 instance of Sir Joseph Bank«, it seems reasona- 

 ble to infer, that it contamed at least t.he csseinc 



large, by which an animal is enabled to travel 

 with greater lacilily." j 



Not donbliiig the correctness of these princi- 

 [)les, 1 inlrodijced such of them as appeared to 

 me most important, in my second letler ; togeth- 

 er with some correspondin\' ideas, in which Sir 

 John said the most experienced lireeders seem- 

 ed to concur. But they iTii:sl have been all com- 

 prehended in BakewelTs oml dndrincs, (Cor as 1 

 have iiefore said, he committed nothing to writ- 

 1 iiig) and exhibited in the yorm.9 of his improved 

 ' Cattle and sheep. Their round, barrel sha[>ed 

 bodies, in particilar, o.ive ample room, in llieir 

 lore end, lor large lungs, deemed so essential l>y 

 Dr Cline. Without delracting from Dr Cline"* 

 science, it may be co^erlured, that his theory 

 (as it happens in ma^y^%ther ca-^es) was formed 

 on well known facts ; and intended to explain 

 hniv the useful results in |)ractice were produc- 

 ed. ForBakewelPs principles and rules of prac- 

 tice were extensively known. " The particu- 

 lar merit of the Dishley slock (says Arlhur 

 Young) is a mailer of very small consequence, 

 compared with the just firincijAcs which Bake- 

 well disseminated in the many jourBeys which 

 he was always making into the *fin*ioiis districts 

 of these islands," This single declaration o( 

 Mr Young (who personally knew Mr Bakewell 

 for above twenty years) i< sufficient to repel Sir 



breeds of domestic animals, rxhich is no~j) so veil 

 'understood in this covtttnj : hut in obedience to 

 your commands, I print these observa ions, to 

 which I am sensible you have attached oiore 

 Talue than they deserve."* 



It remains to say a few words of Doctor 

 Cline. — Sir John Sinclair, in his Code if Agri 

 culture, names Mr Cline as an eminent .Mirgeon 

 in London. Ilis profession naturally led him to 

 acquire an accurate knowledge of the human 

 boily, and, as elucidating that subject, il thf" 

 structure of other animals, and especially ol lho*p 

 most interesting to man, which are cfiupre 

 handed in the term domestic. 



The substance of the doctrines of this enineiil 

 aurgeon, is tiius slated by Sir Sohn Sinrlair.^ 

 1. That the external form is only an incicati^n 

 of the internal structure. 2. That the lings jjf 

 «n animal are the first object to be atteniled to; 

 lor (10 their size and soundness, the health atri 

 strength of an animal principally depend, i. 

 That the external indications of the size of tlie 

 lungs, are the form and size of the chest, aijd 

 its breadth in parliciilar 4. That the hejd 

 should be small, as by this the liirth is facilitit- 

 ed ; as it aflords other advantages in feedint, 

 fee. and as it j^nerally md.oules that the aiiimll 

 8s of a good breed. 5. That the length of I 

 meek should be in proportion to the size c( I 

 animal, that it may collect its food with ea* 

 and 6. That the muscles and tendons should 



* Memoirs of the Penuiylvauia AgricultviralSociel 

 p. 137, 



bI 



introduces, in relation to the Alderney cattle 

 and whose authority, therefore, he will not feel 

 inclined to dispute — speaks the praise of Bake- 

 well, in his " Experienced Farmer,"* he men- 

 tions his visit to iVikewell, and the prejudice- 

 he had enlcrtained against him and his stock. — 

 The result of the interview, Parkinson gives 

 in these words. — " I dined wiih Mr Bakewell, 

 and during /"our /io?(ri' coiuiffsahon with him, ob- 

 tained more useful knowledge with respect to the 

 breeding and management of slock, than I had 

 been able to acquire during all the time I had 

 practised the business of" a farmer. It is with 

 '.gratitude 1 acknowleilge the obligation heapei' 

 u[ion me by that great, that intelligent, that use 

 ful man." 



1 return to Mr Powel's Reply, — His observa- 

 tions, in several paragraphs of his second leltei. 

 would lead the reader to think, that I had made 

 the simple qveslion, wliether the native cattle of 

 New England, were or were not, generally of 

 the Devonshire breed, a point of serious con- 

 troversy ; a point which is really of little im 

 pnrlance. The object of my four first letters 

 was, "• the improvement," not of the Devonshire 

 breed of cattle, but expressly " of the native 

 breed of J^erv England cattle" — (regardless 

 whether they were the descendants of Dev- 

 uns, or of a mixed race)- in distinction from 

 nezt; comers of Hwy fashionable breeds, recently, 

 or within a fetv years, imported from Eiirojjc, 

 rliielly IVom England. 1 never " asserted," as 

 Mr Powel represents, but said (and I assigned 

 the reason.) it was "• natural to suppose," that 



Vol.1, p. U. 



the first rr-tllcr'! '-i Merr England brought with 

 them the Devon breed; and that our red calllo 

 ivere consequently descendants from that race ; 

 a race im[iroved and still celebrated in England; 

 and thai our own, by careful selection, admitted 

 of equal improvement. The real point in con- 

 troversy between us, on this particular subject, 

 i'. Whether wlial 1< most x-aiuahle and excellent, 

 in the calllo nl'Nov Euafland, of" Massachuselt-" 

 e';pecia!ly,w:is derived from mo'/crn importations 

 frotn Great Britain ? or, in Mr Powel's own 

 words — Whether tlie finest rallle in Massachu- 

 setts are mixed wiih families of which Mr Gore. 

 Mr Stewart, and Mr Vaughan, iinported liie 

 sires." For the aflirmative in the question, Mr 

 Powel said he would contend. Entertaining aa 

 opposite opinion, I took ' some pains to show, 

 that the progeny nf Gore's and Stewart's hulls 

 [Vaughan's animal 1 have shown, was a coif, the 

 mother of Gore's bull] must be extremely lim- 

 ited in numbers, and could not have been the 

 ancestors of all Ihe finest cattle in Massachu- 

 sell':." I say all. liecause that appears to me to 

 be Ihe import of Mr Powel's words ; and so I 

 think they will appear to others. And in rela- 

 tion to this point I adduced the evidence of Mr 

 Jay, who had seen the Devon cattle in England 

 and the Dative cattle of New England, to show 

 ihat they were both of the same breed ; and 

 ibat the Iniler were not of Bakewell's long-horn, 

 nor of CoUing's shnrl-horn race. If therefore, 

 we have any of the native breed at least equal 

 to the few whicfchave some portion of the Bake- 

 well hlnoil o',' Gore's and Stewart's bulls, then 

 my point is established : and I consequently 

 prove, lliat foreign crosses are not essential to 

 the raising of our nalire race of cattle lo (he 

 degree of perfection that is practicable with any 

 other breed. — Mr Powel himself says, " Me had 

 never seen in Europe, performance of oxen 

 comparable lothal which in Massachusetts would 

 scarcely be remarked* And in his " Replj-, 

 No. 1, he informs u? that "Vic lounged during 

 three years about England, and saw every va- 

 riety of cattle, which the bleitk mountains ot' 

 Scotland, or the rich vales of Yorkshire and 

 Lincolnshire are tilted lo produce." Now I ask, 

 what liulis and what cows were the sires and 

 <kiins of those superior oxen of Massachusetts ?- 

 I answer — and I appeal to our farmers as know- 

 ing the fact — the native bulls and native co'jus of 

 Massachusetts. And could these be ordinary, 

 when their offspring is so excellent? 



Mr Powel, admitting that the cattle of Mas- 

 sachusetts are generally of the Devon breed, 

 thinks they have been improved for the pur- 

 poses of the yoke aod those of the dairy, allho' 

 ID five instances out of six, reported to the Mas- 

 sachusetts Society, the <lMiries of native cattle 

 afforded on an average but 92 pound* of butter 

 a year. Afterwards, in Ihe same letter (No. 2,) 

 he says" Col. Pickering has shown, that the an- 

 nu.it products of Massachuselis "■ native" dairies, 

 in five instances out of six, are. when contrast- 

 ed with middling English dairies, as 92 to 286." 

 This as'^ertion, taken in conjunction with an- 



* l/ttter to Mr Featherslonlmni;!!. in the Memoirs ef 

 '.he i'enusylvunia Agricultural Society, p. 53. 



