342 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 19, 1825. 



NE W ENGLAND FA RMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1826. 



BREEDS dr CATTLE. 



Continued from page 319. 



In pursuance of the plan wliich we proposed at 

 the commencemPTit of our reniarks on thi> subject, 

 we now proceed to place beforr our readers- Amer- 

 ican testimonies, (in addition to those wh'ich we 

 have formerly adduced) relative to the qualities of 

 the Short Horned breed nf cattle. 



A letter from Edward Lloyd, Govprnor of Mary- 

 land, to John Hare Powel, Esq. dated May -i, 1825, 

 contains the following pas.=agcs : " Many of my 

 half breed Champion [short horn] heifers (now two 

 years old) have had calves this sprinor, and contra- 



every calf I could spare, to experienced fanners, 

 for from six to eight time'! the price of common 

 calves, and reserved the best. Several of my next 

 spring calvo"? are already bespoke. Nonsuch took 

 the highest premium at an exhibition of 182-1. At 

 our last nhow I entered all my stock for exhi'ntion 

 only, and not for premium. The committer on 

 Cattle reported Nonsuch the finest animal the ij hid 

 ever seen. They noticed his calves in the same 

 haausome manner ; there were twelve of them on 

 the ground." 



A letter from Joseph Kersey of Chester County, 

 Penn. to John P. Milnor. Recording Secretary of 

 tlie Pennsylvania Airricaltural Society, contains 

 the following passag-as 



' I purchased an half breed Improved Durham 



.„ ^ . ^\"' . short horn bull, wliicli I sold at public vendue for 



ry to my expectation are 50 per cent superior tor , , , , n i r u » i .u . 



-'.,, •^ , , T ■ ,_ 1 nil. u 1 one hundred dollars, and I am happy to learn that 



milk to any breed I have ever had. 1 hey have , , , , , ■ A i . u 



, , , z ^, „^, ^^, he has had during the last season, near one hnn- 



had only the tare of the comnioB cattle on my es- , , " . . i . ^ .. 



,-,, ^ ,, ■ , ., , , ' ■ dred cows. His docility, liis aptitude to fatten 



tate. All of the mixed blood are so uuicli supen- ... , , ■ ., t • i .. 



, ^, ^ , . , irl upon little provender are admirable. I raised two 



or to my common stock, that 1 consider myselt ,. , • , , . , , ,. , , , 



,, .-',,, , ... - 1 ui J "' his calves, which when four weeks old were 



well paid for my purchase, by the mixed blood | ,, , . , ., , i r- 



, ,.,Ti_ i„»i»» I generally supposed to be two months old, from fnr the unlie 



a one which I have reared." * * * * °, . , ■ ^^ ...... , ,, w"'^ "^' •V"*^ 



1 tlieir being so remarkably fleshy and well grown, I j,^a 



opinions,whether in conflict with his own, or in sui 

 port of tlieories which he does not approve — for his 

 exertion in introducing s.t extraordinary expenfC, 

 a race of Neat Cattle, which experience has prov- 

 ed to be superior to all which we have over seen 

 — for his disinterested and successful efforts in 

 disseminating them v, ithout view to profit, or hope 

 of return, regarding solely tlie interest of that por- 

 tion of his ^^ fellow citizens," upon whose practical 

 exertions the wealth and prosperity of this country 

 mainly depend — and further, that a piece of plate 

 be presented to him, not merely in testimony of 

 our personal regard, but in proof of our conviction 

 of the usefulness of his '• zeal," as well as the 

 " soundness of his opinions" in all matters con- 

 nected with the improvement of Farm Stock, " a 

 topic pecidiarbj interesting" to the middle and 

 northern sections of the United States." 



At the same meeting a number of Pennsylvania 

 Dairy Farmers gave their opinions as follows : 



" We have examined the Durham Short Horn -. 

 cattle. We have never seen animals better fitted • 

 in scait ; the bull, although appearing 



I have given my mixed Devons a fair trial, r""" """'-, °'\'";''"'"""'J' ""^ '"'\""'' ^'"'V'' i "^'avy from his round s.hape, moves vvith gr 



with mv mixed shoi"t horns, and it would be only r"",']''""'^ "'f-^. ^f "°' ""^^t" r-?^ "^ ■ ! "'^ '"'d places his feet so acc^irately, that the tracks 



- .. , . 1-1 »- 1 / milk from their dams. Kobert t lenimons raised 



necessary for the most preiu'Jiceu or sceptical to ,. . , , . ■ , .^ 



' ■' ' one from a cow that would not weigh more than 



see thjem, to decide in favour of the short horns, j 

 In si-/e and form there is no comparison, and the j 

 .short horns are vastly superior for milk." j 



A letter from Charles A. Barnitz, Esq. of York, | 

 Penn. to John Hare Powel, Esq. contain*! the fol- 

 lowing passage: " Wo have a rich valley, highly I 

 cultivated, extending through York county, and ! 

 almost ever)' farmer has one or two choice cows 

 of the native stock, which he considers of a supe- ; 



three hundred pounds. He killed the calf at six 

 months old, the meat of which weighed three hun- 

 dred and thirty-four pounds, for which he obtain- 

 ed ten cents per pound. * * * * Taking this 

 breed in every point of view, I consider them bet- 

 ter adapted to the use of farmers than any other 

 breed I am acquainted with. Tliey arrive at ma- 

 turity early, feed quick, are good milkers, and are 

 exceedingly kind and docile ; thev have more 



nor kind ; but Irom all that I have seen in my own , -,,•,, ,. . , . ■ .^ . i 



, ,, , . . - ■ »i. * weight in the most Kjiportant parts, vr/. the stand- 



e.-camiuation, and I have taken pains in the mat- . ^■. ., ■ , ■ ., .-. j , l 



, ,, 1- L . T I, .1 f 11 J- 1"? ribs, the sirloin, the rump, itc. and have much 



ter,) as well as from what I hear, th^v fall m , " „.\ ^. ., . . ^ „ , ■.-,,- 



. ,> TT !_ r L.I i_ -i- -1 - L " . -• , less oftal than cattle in common. 1 ake one of this 



short of Hebe [a short horn heifer] in he'uity, siye, 



fchape, and other points of value. Early last sum- 



mer I obtained from a neighboring farmer a beau- 

 tiful heifer of the native stock, of tho finest shape 

 and promise, and of the same age with Hebe. J 

 kept them too ether upon the same feed until n.^w 

 year, w.hen tlie difference v. a? sogre;it, that allow- 

 ing for a small original diiference in si--e, Hebe 

 appeared at least tivo years ahead in improve- 

 ment." " * * * 



■' Our farmers, who g-enerally know the leading 

 points of good stock, h-ave formed the highest 

 opinion of this breed, and all agree on the great 

 importance of extending them as rapidly as possi- 

 lle. The great dilficulty of obtaining them, and 

 the hijh prices they command, wil! for some years 

 retard the progress of the full blood ; but oven the 



I breed, and another of the common kind of equal 

 weight ; slaughter them at the different prices the 

 different pieces command in the market, and it 

 will be found that the short horn will return con- 

 siderably the most money, merely because it has 

 more of the liigh priced ])icoes and loss offal." 



At several Agricultural Exhibitions and Cattle 

 Shows of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, 

 the greater part of the premiums for neat cattle 

 \vere awarded for those of the Short Horn breed. 

 At the second annual exhibition, Mr Powel was 



mai/e with his fore feet are occujiitd by his hind 

 feet, as he advances. The lieifers also move with 

 alacrity, and have very straight legs. 



" We are all dairy farmers, and have visited 

 Powelton at our own sugge.iiion^ to satisfy our 

 minds as to the dairy properties of the females. — 

 We do not hesitate to say that they h a vk *t.i, thb 

 APPEARA>'CE OF (JBEAT MiiKF,p.s, having also yel- 

 low .-^kins. We think the heifers Excr.j., in these 

 points, all which we have seen.!' This certilicate 

 or testimonial is dated Philadelphia County, Jan. 

 10, 182(), and signed by Messrs. Lloyd Jones, Isaac 

 W. Roberts, Paul Jones, David Roberts, John Rob- 

 erts, Joseph Trasel, Geo. W. Kobert.% and Isaac 

 Hester. 



Since writing the above we have been favoured 

 with an opp'irtunily of conversing on this subject, 

 with His Excellency Levi Lincoln-, Governor of 

 Massachusetts, whose statements relative to the 

 improved Durham Short Horn breed of cattle we 

 have given in tjie current voh.me of the N. E. 

 Farmer, page 1. His Excellency says, in sub- 

 stance, that further experience, since tiie date of 

 his letter to Col. Powel, above referred to, has ful- 

 ly corroborated his former impressions with regard 

 t-) the superior excellence of this breed. That his 



of two or three years." 



Mr Alexander Reed, an eminent cultivator of 

 Washington, Penn. having paid A200 for a bull 



awarded ten premiums on as many different ani 



mals, of his own raising, all of which were of the stock of short horns was kept, last winter, alto 



short horn breed. Col. Powel, however relinquish- gether on meadow hay and barley sL-aw — no roots 



ed those premiums, and received no otiier reward nor English h.ay allowed thein — that he was ab- 



for his display on this occasion than honorable sent from home, during the winter and part of the 



half blood, which almost every farmer may obtain, i"f"''^"''>-^"^ Committee of s-.id Society, who , spring, attending to nis official duties in Boston, 



must make a sensible improvement in the course "^''''"''^ ^''f " "-^^y cannot avoid expressing the j and trusted the care of his stock wholly to hired 



' great satisfaction at the decided improvement i men, who had no injunctions nor inducements to 



which has been made in the stock, by tlie intro- | bestow anytliing more than ordinary care and at- 



duction of jVIr Powel's Improved Durham Short tendance on his stock. The result was highly fa- 



, , , 1 i-> 1 t,, . IT u J „ 1 Horns, whose blood can be traced in nearly all the 



of tne Improved Durham Sliort Horn breed, ex- , 



, - .- i- .- -.1.1 1 r 1 1 urendm 



presses his satisfaction witli the purchase as fol- 

 lows ; 



" The object I liad in purchasing was the im- 

 provemf-nt of my o'.Nn stock. I am now perfectly 



Bilisfied that this will be ai-complished equal to my I , ., ■ . , . i »t , ..i.i i.jr.- 



... J r 1, .■, , „ii; cultural Society held November 12Ui 183.), 



most snnn:tiine erpe.i-frittons : and 1 have tnc aildi- ., , , <-.,-.,. u . i 



, . u . .- - 1 I, 1 . ,. I solved that the thanks of tins Society be presented 



tional trratih'ation of seeing mv neighbor s stock , ,, , „ , j j- >- 



, ■ n ■ n' • • 1 „ii„ . I to (_ol. Powel — 



also rapidly improving, you will nro.)a;.i!y recollect ' „ , ■ ■ , ■, ■ ■ i , 



.. . . .1 . I u 1 r .. -1 . 1 .1 „ .;.,„] ror his unwearied assiduity m advancing the 



that at the time I purcha.sed I aftn'mted the bne , , . « , • ■ /-,-,. 



„ . , , .„ . general ohiects of this institution — tor his fairness 



appearance of your stock m .some degree to erira- =' ■> 



'^'. , ™l II I 1 ; 1 1 and impartiality as ( orre.-iiionding Secretary, in 



ordinarii keep. The experience I have had is cal- 1 ' -'. ..'- , i- i, , ' 



, . ,-. J »i. r I, ,.„ „«i,i '^^'■etullv recording and faithfully promulgating 



culated to do away this impression. I have sold , • ^ v i o o 



g animals which were distinguished as best 

 fitted for the general purposes of the country, by 

 uniting, with fine forms, the requisites for the dai- 

 ry and the stall. 

 At a special meeting of the Pennsylvania Agri- 



Re- 



vourable to this breed of animals, and would ap- 

 pear to establish another link in the chain of evi- 

 dence in tlieir favour. It proves that in hardihood 

 they are not inferior to our native cattle. He has 

 also a pair of steers of this breed trained to the 

 yoke, which in strength and docility are not sur- 

 passed by any cattle of any breed. Tlie only ob- 

 jection against them lies in tjieir colour, whi-'!. 

 being light renders any soil or slain conspicuous, 

 and sugg';sts an idea of their being less hardy 

 than those of deeper hues."* 



* Mr Lawrence, howevir, reoiarks that " The colour 

 of cattle seems perfectly immaterial, iu the view o: 



