140 EXPERIMENTS ON MANURES. 



called Belle Isle, situated in the town of Chelsea, and there bred 

 them pure for fifteen or twenty years. I visited this island fre- 

 quently, and watched the progress of these cattle. I found them 

 hardy, taking on flesh readily, and silky in the handling or touch, 

 and as milkers they were fair, much above the average of our native 

 stock. The calves from this imported stock were generally raised 

 lor breeders, sold, &c. At one time, a large portion of the neat 

 cattle in Chelsea were of this Polled breed ; but the people of Chel- 

 sea gave little or no attention to preserve the breed pure. I scon 

 baw their mixed bloods — their oxen were ill-looking animals, with lit- 

 tle loose horns attached to the skin only, hanging and dandling about 

 their faces ; their pure blood cows were allowed to go with any little 

 runt of a bull. The late Benjamin Shurtleff, M. D., soon after pur- 

 chasing a farm in Chelsea, say some twenty to thirty years since, 

 obtained several of these cows, and he always, in speaking to me, 

 thought highly of their milking properties. This breed of cattle 

 have been spread abroad in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, 

 Vermont, &o., but I tiiink it doubtful if the pure breed, male and 

 female, can now be found in this neighborhood. I mean possessing 

 all the original characteristics. 



It has been said that the Galloway Polled has never been im- 

 proved by cross breeding with any other variety of stock. 



There are, it is said, two varieties of the hornless breed of cattle. 

 The Scottish Galloway Polled, and the Suffolk Dun Polled — the last 

 mostly originating from the former. The Galloways giving the rich- 

 est, and the Suffolk Duns yielding the most milk. I am incUncd to, 

 think that the Russell importation were of the Suffolk Dun variety. 

 1 shall expect to see a good treatise on this subject by you. 



Respectfully and very truly yours, 



SAMUEL JAQUES. 



