Published by JOHN B; KUSSELL. atlhf cornier ofCt.n^rf 9? niul Litirfall Street?. Boptr.,i. —THOMAS (i. Fr.SSKNDKN, Editor. 



VOL. I'V. 



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1B25. 



No. 11. 



ORICJ-S2?AS. OOS^SStTHZSATIOBYS. I 



FOR THE KKW ,ENGL.4KD FAR.MER. | 



COLONEL PICICERINC, { 



ON' LMPROVLXG THK N.M'IM: BREED 

 OF NEW ENGLAND CATTLE. ! 



Letter X. ' 



In thfi prefalory remarks of thn Eiliiors oflbe i 

 Mass;ichi!?etts Agricultural Repository, inlroduc-! 

 ing' Extrncts relating to catlli?, iVoin the Me-; 

 moirs of the Pennsylvania AaTicultiiral Society, 

 these are recommendei! to tjie reaiiing class on 

 farmers: doubtless haung in view, primarily, 

 those of Miissachii'efts, and Neiv England; lo 

 ivhom also, my letters are ini[iliedly aildresfed. 

 Those Extracts gave rise to some ot" lUe re- 

 marks, in ray former four letters, respecting dif- 

 ferent breeds of cattle, pailicnlarly the improv- 

 ed short-horns ; and those remarks have proved, 

 perhaps unforlnnatel}'. the occasion of their con- 

 titiiiance. By this continuance, however, I hope 

 1 am not wasting the time, if I am trying the, 

 patience of the readers' of the New England 

 Farmer. , 



In the extracts above referred to, and in others; 

 of Mr Powel's papers on live stock, published' 

 in the Memoirs above mentioned, and subsej 

 fjuently seen by me, the cattle called the im- 

 proved short-horns are very hii^hly extolled ; 

 and some other breeds, herctolore, and still, 

 held in estimation, are denounced as absolutely 

 or comparatively contemptible. In his second 

 letter, however, he says " lie had nelliicr co" 

 tended for the exclusion of all breeds except 

 one, nor had intended at any time to assert, that 

 all the families of the breed which he juefers, 

 for the general purposes of the country, are a- 

 Sike well suited for the dairy, yoke, and sl;ill." 

 \Vhat theiidid he intend by the imposing sen- 

 tence (which I have before tiunlcd at length) in 

 which he suggests, by supposition indeed, — hut 

 which was unquestionably intended t.- convey 

 the force of an aj/ii/na(iuii — " That by the mul- 

 tiplication of the unproved Ihirham Short-Uurns, 

 'the produce of beef, u|ion a given extent ol 

 land, would be nearly doutilccP* — the quantity 

 of iiutter increase(i — the facility of procuring 

 powerful oxen for dr;\ught not lessened ?"— But 

 all these are points which remain to be proved. 

 There has been manifested, at the Lrighton 

 Cattle shows, an extraordinary admiration of the 

 few imported short-horn bulls and their offs- 

 pring. Spectators svere captivated by their size 

 and form. Animals imported at very great ex- 

 pense, could not be cheaply propagated. It was 

 well known that we hail some excellent native 

 cattle, of which specimens had been publicly 

 exhibited. It appeared lo me very practicable, 

 by judicious selections, to improve cur n.itive 

 stock, extensively and rapidly, by coynmenciiig 

 the selection in every township. These selected 



Tl»e words of his Enjlisli correspondent Major 

 Riidd, a breeder of the improved short-lionis — .ire " if 

 this breed was every wliere disseminated, the produce 

 of beef, on a given extent of land, would be nearly 



doubled." Memoirs of ilie Vina, AguQ goc. p. 47 



This is merely an opinion. 



animals exhibited 'at our iJarious caltle sliows, 



would present opportunities for future and im- 

 proved selections; and ultimately, if thny did 

 i:ol reach the highest degree of excellence-, fur- 

 nish better subjects for coupling with the im- 

 ported cattle, if the latter on full tririL-, should 

 be found lo be greatly sujiorior. And this, I rc- 

 aiarked, " \vould enable the ov.ncrs of the im- 

 ported animals, more cxpeditiousi}' lo improve 

 and increase asiiperior stock, whellier for thfir 

 own use, or for sale." It is true, that to this 

 closing remark i prefixed the word if, because 

 I did not know tlnit full trials, decisive of such 

 superiority, had been made. They surely have 

 not been made in Massachusetts : or the Presi- 

 dent of our State Society and another of Ihe 

 Trustees, in (heir late repealed advertisement 

 of the Hereford and improved sliort-horned 

 bulls, [iresenled to the Society by Admiral Cof- 

 fin, would have indulged in something more than 

 " Jiorn'' that bj crossing with those atiimal=, our 

 nr.tive breeds would he improved. I also hope: 

 my object in writing on the subject, is improve- 

 ment : I care not by what means, provided they 

 are the best, in kind and extent. The first 

 words, in my fourlii letter, are these " 1 contend 

 for no particular breed of cattle, to the exclu- 

 sion of all others." --^Yet ]\Ir I'owel,at the com- 

 mencement of his rve4?Jy No. 2, alter observing 

 that " my objects and iiis arc the s.ime ;" and 

 that " \ve difl'er in the modes iiy which they are 

 to be attained;" snys (hat "I desire to improve 

 our native stock without (ho aid of I'oreign 

 breeds." — I quote, indeed, the opinion of an Eng- 

 lish writer, in Recs' Cyclopedia, as doubtless a 

 correct one, " that in most of Ihe genuine breeds 

 there arc diilercnces in (he individuals. And, 

 that as many of the Dti.ccd breeds afford excel- 

 lent milkers, it may be tbe host mode, in order 

 to establish a good dairy stock, whether for Inil- 

 ler or cheese, for the farmer to breed from such 

 cons, of wh.itevei kind they may be, as he has 

 found from experience the best for iiis pur- 

 pose." I then add, as a sentiment of my oivn, 

 that " when a slock entirely nnu is highlj' re- 

 commended, he can, in the first instance, only 

 have recourse to the experience of others: am! 

 when its superiority is established by the only 

 sure test — the greater qjiantity of bulter or 

 cheese, from Ihe same food, he may safely a- 

 dopt it." — I have sough! tor this test — but hith- 

 erto without obtaining it. In the last paragr:!pli 

 of my fourth letter, 1 suggested what ajipeared 

 to me a practicable and fair comparative expe- 

 riment, by which the absolute and relative quan 

 lilies of butler produced by cows of the improv- 

 ed short-horn breed might be ascertained. As 

 yet, every thing rests on opinion. Mr Powel, 

 in bis Reply, has introduced a number of docu- 

 ments intended to shov/ the e.Ncellence of Ihe 

 improved short-horns as dairy cows ; particular- 

 ly that the half-breeds, the heifers of American 

 cows from the English bulls, give large quanti- 

 ties of rich, or the richest milk ; and one let- 

 ter in which the writer expresses his " opinion,"' 

 that the imported cow Moss Rose, would yield 

 twelve or lilteen pounds of bulter, of the finest 

 quality, in one week. 



Before 1 had any knowledge of a correspond- 



ence 'on the improved sliort-horn breed of cat- 

 tle, bchvee'u Judge, now Governor Lincoln, ano 

 Mr Powel,— having accidentally heard (hat Ihe 

 former had on hisfaim a dairy of half bred heif- 

 ers, by Donlon, which he highly valued, and 

 that they ga,e gre.il quantities of milk,— I took 

 the lilierly of addressing lo him a short le(fer, 

 projiosing and re<picstiiig answers lo a number 

 of questions^ By >vay ol ajiology.ipr giving him 

 this (rouble,! informed (be judge, lha( 1 had 

 told 5Ir Fcssenden 1 inlended lo write soinelhing 

 on this subject for his New EnglanS Farmer; 

 and that 1 wisliod to compare onr native with 

 Ihe English breeds. This was on the loth of 

 March lost. The judge, ihen on the Bench in 

 Boston, favouied me \vith a prompt ajiswer, and 

 assured me that at the earliest moments of leis- 

 ure, he w«|id attend lo the subject, and commu- 

 nicate all uia information which he might hope 

 lo be deserving of con«iderillion. But his judi- 

 cial occupations until his election lo the govern- 

 ment of the stale, and the high oflkial duties 

 since devolved upon him, have deprived me of 

 the satisfaction which his ansivers to m^'queriea 

 would have aft'orded. As the questions, though 

 written in haste, appear lo mo lo involve im- 

 porlant considerations, I iiere introduce them. 

 In reference to his half-breeds, I ask — 



1. What are their average quantities of milk 

 per day, during the pasturage season, and how 

 much afterwards while in milk? 



2. How long before calving do they go dry 

 — nattiiaily — or by yolir direction ? 



'3. llo\v many jiounds of butler per week do 

 they yieW while at pasture, and how many 

 quarts ol^iii;;, on .m average, yield a pound of 

 butter? 



4. ^Vern nol all the dams of your half-breeds 

 th.e licst, or among the best milch cows attaina- 

 ble in AVorcesler county? 



5. Do your half-breeds give more or belter 

 milk than was given by ihcir dams. 



6. Arc not your hali-breed cows larger than 

 ivere Iheir dams, and generally than our nalive 

 cows ? 



7. Is any improvement in the i'orm, size, 

 strength and activity of the oxen of your county, 

 likely to be derived from Denton or other Eng- 

 lish bulls? 



Subsequently lo Jlr Powel's Reply No. 3, as 

 reprinted in Ihe New England Farmer, 1 wrote 

 to a gentleman in Worcester, and quoted, from 

 the Extract of a letter of Mr Powel's, as repub- 

 lished in (he Massachuse((s Repository, vol. 

 VIH. p. 2G7, Ihe t'ollowing passage — " I would 

 contend (hat the (ines( caltle in Massachusetts 

 :ire mixed with families, of which Mr Gore, Mr 

 Stewart and Mr Vaughan imported the sires.^ 

 Lancashire, Leicester and Hereford blood can 

 be traced by a practised eye, in many of the 

 best working oxen exhibited at the New-Eng- 

 land Agricultural Shows." — I then say to my 

 friend — '• I wish lo know from you, whether 

 the long trains of fine oxen in the yoke, frpm 

 Sutton and Shrewsbury, exhibited ai Worcester, 

 at your cattle shows, were purely of our native 

 breed, — or whether all that was excellc7it and 

 superior in them, had been derived from the 

 three animals above mentioned; or rather from 



