1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



159 



their value, they are rarely distributed at all by 

 email house-keepers. My conclusion on the sub- 

 ject is this — that those lands about the old settle- 

 ments having been top-dressed for forty or fifty 

 years, become permanently rich in consequence 

 thereof! Tins is a very novel idea, and perhaps 

 you will think it a very sill) 7 one: at any rate, I think 

 it probable that top-dressing will become the uni- 

 versal mode of manuring land.* 



Permit me to call your attention to a method 

 of pulverizing fresh ploughed lands by the use of 

 a drag-log, described in a late No. of the Genesee 

 Farmer, by a friend of ours. I have used it 

 for eighteen months, and think that one rubbing is 

 worth a dozen harrowings for the purpose of ren- 

 dering fresh ploughed land fine and mellow. f 



t. w. r. 



Goochland, Jane lOlh, 1S35. 



From the Library of Useful Knowledge — Farmer's Series. 

 ORIGIN AND VALUE OF THE IMPROVED SHORT- 

 HORNED BREED OF CATTLE. 



For every portion of the text in this excellent 

 account of" the short-horns, we are indebted to the 

 Rev. Henry Berry, than whom there are few 

 more zealous breeders of cattle, while there is no 

 better judge of them. 



Whatsoever differences of opinion may prevail 

 respecting the comparative merits of our several 

 breeds of cattle, it must be admitted that the short- 

 horns present themselves to notice under circum- 

 stances of peculiar interest. Possessing in an 

 eminent degree a combination of qualities which 

 have generally been considered incompatible, and 

 rendered irresistibly attractive to the eye by their 

 splendid frames, and varied colors, it is not sur- 

 prising that they have become objects of public 

 curiosity; that they have realized for their breed- 

 ers enormous sums of money; and that through- 

 out our own island, and in every foreign country 



"The well known fact stated above of the perma- 

 nent fertility exhibited on the sites of old dwelling 

 places on naturally poor land, instead of opposing the 

 opinion referred to by our correspondent, is in truth, 

 one of its strongest supports — and we have often claim- 

 ed its aid in argument, for that purpose. It is not the 

 "caustic" quality of the ashes which produces the ben- 

 efit, but the calcareous earth they contain, amounting 

 to perhaps, half their bulk — and to the phosphate of 

 lime, which forms part of the balance. This substance 

 constitutes the most solid part of bones. But inde- 

 pendent of this portion of phosphate of lime, and of 

 that in all the bones left near the residence of a family, 

 the calcareous earth alone from the ashes, and other 

 sources, would be amply sufficient to fix the perma- 

 nent fertility always seen on such spots. The other 

 sources of lime are almost every thing brought to and 

 consumed at the residence of a family: for, every arti- 

 cle of food and clothing, as well as fuel, contains some 

 lime — all the offal of crops, &c, and therefore the pro- 

 portion of lime at and near a dwelling place must be 

 always increasing, because more is brought to it than 

 is carried away. — Ed. 



fThe communication referred to has already been 

 published in this journal, page 751, vol. II. — Ed. 



where agriculture is attended to, they are in in- 

 creasing request. 



It might tend to throw much light on the sci- 

 ence of breeding, could these animals be traced, 

 in the progress of their improvement, to an earlier 

 period than has hitherto been found possible. Of 

 the extent of that improvement, we may, how- 

 ever, form an estimate, by placing together one 

 of the improved, and one of the unimproved race. 

 We should, in such case, discover resemblance 

 just sufficient to support the belief in a very 

 remote alliance, but there all similarity would 

 cease. 



From the earliest periods as to which we have 

 any accounts of our breeds of cattle, the counties 

 of Durham and York have been celebrated for 

 their short-horns, but principally, in the first in- 

 stance, on account of their reputation as extraor- 

 dinary milkers.* To recite their feats at the pail 

 would be to invite incredulity; but it may be as- 

 serted, on the best evidence, that, taken as a 

 breed, they have never, in this particular, been 

 equalled. The cattle so distinguished were al- 

 ways, as now, very different from the improved 

 race. 



They were generally of large size, thin skin- 

 ned, sleek haired, bad handlers, rather delicate in 

 constitution, coarse in the offal, and strikingly de- 

 fective in the substance of the girth in the fore- 

 quarters. As milkers, they "were most excellent, 

 but when put to fatten, as the foregoing descrip- 

 tion will indicate, were found slow feeders, pro- 

 ducing an inferior quality of meat, not marbled or 

 mixed as to fat and lean, and in some cases, the 

 latter was found of a particular dark hue. Such, 

 also, are the unimproved short-horns of the present 

 day, and the distinction cannot be too frequently 

 asserted, because they are, in many cases, con- 

 sidered as specimens of the improved breed, and 

 have actually been resorted to in trials as to the 

 comparative aptitude of animals to fatten — trials 

 which is evident they could not successfully sus- 

 tain. 



A period of more than eighty years has now 

 elapsed since the short-horns on the banks of the 

 river Tees, (hence called the Teeswater breed,) 

 had assumed a very different character to that 



* Before this, a large and valuable description of 

 cattle had existed on the western coast of the continent 

 of Europe, and extended from Denmark to the con- 

 fines of France. They were celebrated for the great 

 quantities of milk which they yielded, and some of 

 them exhibited an extraordinary aptitude to fatten. At 

 what particular time they found their way to England, 

 or by whom they were imported, is unknown; but there 

 is a tradition, that, towards the close of the seven- 

 teenth century, a bull and some cows were introduced 

 into Holderness. 



In external form, there appeard to be very little to 

 recommend them, for they had large shoulders and 

 coarse necks, the sides were flat, and the head was 

 thick; all the coarse parts were bulky and the prime 

 ones were reduced in size, and they were almost the 

 reverse of what the agriculturist would select: they 

 were, however, bulkier than the native breeds, and 

 they were better milkers than the generality of the 

 cattle of that day. They would, by dint of feeding, 

 grow to an enormous size, but they had not the apti- 

 tude to fatten, nor the early maturity, to which they 

 have been since indebted for their triumph over every 

 other breed. — Farmer and Gardener. 



