THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



369 



he dill not give ilie opinions of those <rcnilemen i lieve five limes iliat number ofjjjrade cows of half- 

 as to their value nnd excellence in the Conneeiinii j blood and n[)vvards, can be easily Ibund in either 

 Valley, and the results of iheir experience regard- 1 siate ; but I will venture the assertion, that where 

 in<f them. A detail of their observations would ! such cattle do exist, no matter what their paienta<'e 

 have been at least more sal is^fiictory than asumnia- 1 rnay be on the native side, if they were directly 

 ry condemnation without a hearinijr- I bred from improved short horn bulls, fuur out of 



Mr. Colman and myself visiied the Ohio Com- every five of them have proved superior milkers ; 

 pany's heal, which he mentions, togeiher in ; and at least twenty per cent, better in the ag- 

 company at Buffalo in 1S35, as they were passing i gregate than \\\q ordinary cows around then), 

 through'li'om the sea-board to Ohio, on their pas- | And I will also assert, that of the whole number 

 sage out. They were in high condiiion, as [\iw \ o[' thorough bred cows in our country, nine out of 

 or none of the cows were then in milk, and we ! ten are excellent, if not superior milkers, and 

 had no opportuniiy lo judge of their capabilities twenty-five percent, abovetheauerflge native cows. 

 Jbr the pail ; although I have since learned that 'i'o illustrate this matter, as 1 have bred a large 

 several of the cows were great and rich milkers. I immber of improved herd book animals of the 

 It must be understood, iiowever, that many of highest blood, within the last six years, as well 



the English breeders of high bred short horns 

 breed only lor sale and the shambles, and do not 

 cultivate the milking qualities of their cattle. 

 This is almost universally the case in Ohio, 

 Kentucky, and the western states, where the 

 dairy forms no part of the farming business, and 

 stock is reared mostly for beef; but tfom ihe 

 universal tendency of the true short horns to 

 excel in milknig properties, when approprialed to 

 that purpose, 1 can have no doubt they would 

 show as advantageously over the [lail as in the 

 stall. When it is considered also, that owing to 

 their scarcity and high value in America, all the 

 females are employed in rearing their calves, and 

 the bulls, instead of being converted into stores 

 lor the shambles, are preserved as slock getters, 

 it is evident that comparatively but lew examples 

 can be adduced of their real superiority over the 

 common stOL-k of our country as milkers. Still, 

 a sufficient number of specimens have been 



as many grade cattle from the native, Devon, and 

 other breeds, I will state the results of my own 

 experience, and also the opinions of sundry other 

 breeders, with such facts as a hasty relerence will 

 permit. 



In 1835, f bred ten or twelve half-blood heifers 

 Irom three Devon and several common cows of 

 inferior quality and appearance. They were sired 

 by my short horn bull Favorite, bred near Boston, 

 Mass., whose pedigree will belound at No. 2,009, 

 3d vol. Coale's Herd Book. These heifiers proved, 

 without an exception, good milkers ; rftuch 

 above the average, both lor quality and quantity. 

 In 1S36,'7 and '8, 1 bred several one-half and three- 

 fourth blood heilers, also from Devons and others, 

 which, although many of them were sold, have 

 so lar as I have heard from them, proved superior 

 milkers. A part of these were sired by my short 

 honi bull Devonshire, No. 966, 2d vol. Coate'a 

 Herd Book. I also had, during the years from 



shown, both in milk and beef, to demonstrate that ! 1834 to near the close of 1839, a herd of lull bred 

 in each of these qualities the improved short i improved short horns, varying Irom lour to ten 

 horns have excelled all that has yet been produ- j milking cows, of which all, with one exception, 

 ced of our native American stock. (and that cow suffered an injury in her udder 



In paragraph No. 2, Mr. C. remarks, that he I vvheii young,) were /Jrs/-ro/e milkers. One cow 

 wants proi)fo[ the milking qualities of the short j gave often thirty quarts of milk per ^ay of good 

 horns. His own, seven in number, proved inle- Quality. Several ol them gave over twenty quarts 

 rior milkeri-, although he admits that several of tiaily in summer lieed, and not one of them gave 

 them, either of his own or which he had seen, \poor milk, or, as the term is, milked hard. They 

 were large milkers ; but he believes these ex- 1 were individually easy, pleasant milkers, with 

 ceptions to ihe general rule. That his own cows Ibeauiilul silky udders, and handsome taper teats, 

 proved bad milkers | roves nothing. What was and were, taken together, much beyond the 

 their blood 7 Were they of ir«e and m;;rouet/ 1 average run of native cows as milkers. I have 

 short horn descent? No data is here given for I now a Durham cow that has made her twelve 

 us to judge of their properties in this particular, | pounds of butier per week, and of four full-bloods 

 and we are forced to pass on to \ now in milk, every one is a superior milker. I 



Paragraph No. 3. The Cheshire and many ; have also five or six half-bloods, all of which are 

 other dairy farmers have long had an excellent j above the average of our native cows, by twenty 

 Block of selected native cows, which have been [ percent, in their milking properties, 

 propagated with particular regard to their milk- \ 'I'o corroborate my experience, I need only 

 ing properties liar many generations. Mr. Colman ; mention the evidence of such gentlemen as John 



has traversed the whole state of Massachusetts 

 several times, and out of the whole number of 

 cows that he has seen among many thousands, 

 he presents a list of one hundred of the native 

 stock which had made from twelve to fourteen 

 pounds of butter per week. He has also cha 



Hare Powell, of Philadelphia, who asserted to 

 my lather, that one of his lull-blooded short horn 

 cows had made twenty-two pounds of butter per 

 week for several- weeks in succession; Gov. 

 Lincoln, and Messrs. Wells, Derby, and Dear- 

 born, of Massachusetts, who have been the 



lenged, both in writing and conversation, the i owners of several grade and thorough bred cows ; 



short horns to prove their dairy 



owners of 

 qualities. 



, I doubt whether one hundred thorough bred 

 short horn cows can be conveniently produced ai 

 all in the whole- states of New- York and i\las- 

 sachueetts, so few are there in comparison with 

 the common stock of the count'ry. • Nor do I be- 

 VoL. IX.-30 



Francis Rotch, Esq. of Butternuts, in this state, 

 who has repeatedly testified to the superiority of 

 his short horns as milkers, and to his entire ex- 

 perience, probably equal, if not superior, to that 

 of any other gentleman in America, of the supe- 

 riority of the short horns in their purity and in their 

 grades, as milkers. I need not add the names of 



