THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



371 



weigliis of the Durham ox with <food keep'mix, 

 ndmit to the fullest extent all tliat we claim, wlieii 

 ubimdance of feed is <^iveii to ll-.e animal. 



IntheGlh and last paragra|)h, Mr. C. doubts 

 whether tlie Durliains are, alter all, not the best 

 stock lor us to liave, and candidly admits that liis 

 mind is yet open to conviction. Now this, alier 

 makint; the round assertions and denials that are 

 above exhibited, is not exactly what we should 

 expect from one of his observation and astuteness. 

 It is indeed too much in tlie vein of the old 

 adai^e: " Ilan^f ium first, and try iiim afterwards." 

 In this last paragraph, all is admitted that tiie 

 Advocates of the short horns desire. We have 

 never asserted that they would produce trreat 

 quantities ol beel^ or of milk, without sufficient 

 [bod ; nor would they thrive under continual ill 

 treatment, neglect and abuse ; nor, indeed, will 

 they bear so 7mich starvation and ill treatment as 

 some of our native cattle; but we do fearlessly 

 assert that eitlier thorough bred or grade short 

 horns will produce more beel, and more milk, 

 each in their own proper time, with the sai)te 

 quantities of grass, hay, or other proper feed, 

 than any breed of cattle ever introduced into this 

 country ; and so have they thus lar done in 

 Enirland. 



My own cattle have never been highly kept. 

 On the contrary, owing to my farm being at some 

 tew miles distance from my residence, and there- 

 lore not having my daily attention, my herd 

 always received but ordinary care, and some- 

 limes, 1 regret to say, not even that. But 1 do 

 say, that so far as my experience has proved, 

 they have, from the highest bred Herd Buok 

 heiler, down to the lowest grade, (never less than 

 half blood,) been as healthy and as hardy as the 

 common stock of the country, kept side by side 

 with them. The opinion, therefore, that Durham* 

 are to he rejected lor want of hardihood, or 

 constitution, is but a prejudice that deserves to be 

 exploded. 



Still I am no enthusiast in this matter. I would 

 not recommend every larmer to introduce into his 

 larm the Durham cow. On the contrary, on 

 very thin and light soils, 1 would not introduce 

 them ; nor any thinfl: else that ever lived on a 

 luxuriant one. But I do say, on lands natural to 

 grass, which aflibrd a fair yield of pasture and of 

 hay, where either the dairy or the fatting of beef, 

 or even the rearing of cattle for sale, be the object, 

 judging from my own experience, and corroborated 

 by that of others who have tried a single cross 

 upon our native, or any other breed of cattle, no 

 matter what, even up to high grades, the Durhairis 

 are altogether the most desirable, both for ap- 

 pearance and (or profit ; with the exception, per- 

 haps, of the Devonshire, if the climate be very 

 rigid ; and they are no milkers. Were I a 

 dairyman, and desired to grow up a race of the 

 best and most profitable milkers I would select 

 the best native cows within my reach, then obtain 

 a thorough bred short horn bull of a good milk- 

 ing family, and raise ray heifers to as high grades 

 as in their natural course would be produced, 

 alwa3's using a thorough bred bull, for in no other 

 way can the excellence and the true characteristics 

 of the race be perpetuated. Did 1, however, 

 admit of any other foreign admixture, it should 

 be a cross of the Devon to give additional snugness 

 to the form ; and then but a single cross, for more 



than that would degrade the milking qualities of 

 the herd. 'I'hese animals, bred as they would be 

 from native cows, would inherit their constitutions 

 and habits, and become idemilied, as much as the 

 most ordinary slock, with our soils and our habits 

 of keeping. In this w;iy should we at once gain 

 all that we desire, without sudden or prejudical 

 change. 



In 1835, my father imported a most beautiful 

 and valuable cow from England, one of the finest 

 animals and best milkers I ever knew; a very 

 iiardy, thrifty, and easily kept animal. She 

 brought us three very superior bull calves, all 

 from short horns. They were like hersellj of 

 peculiar coiifbrmaiion and character, being the 

 most compact in their figures, possessing more 

 weight in a given compass than any animals U 

 ever saw. In the fall of 1839, the cow, and fier 

 then sucking bull calfj were sold to Norman ,C. 

 Baldwin, Esq. of Cleveland, Ohio, for $800; her 

 two year old bull calf, ."Red Jacket," to Mr. 

 Sullivanf, of Columbus, Ohio, for $400; and her 

 yearling bull callj "Sam Patch," to J.H.Hep- 

 burn, Esq. of Jersey Shore, Lycoming co.. Pa. 

 lor $200. Had I at that time known the exceed- 

 ing value of that family of short horns, I should 

 certainly have reserved one of them. My bulls 

 have proved in the highest degree valuable as 

 slock getters, stamping their calves in the first 

 cross with deep characteristics of their own blood, 

 and no doubt, laying the foundation of a race of 

 milkers that will yet be famous in their respective 

 localities. They are esiimated as they should be, 

 almost beyond price. I name these particular 

 animals, because they develope in all points of 

 haidihdod, endurance and kindly feeding, the 

 valuable characteristics we desire in our larminc 

 slock, and fully corroborate all that I have re- 

 marked of rearing up a native stock from judicious 

 crosses of pure short horn bulls. 



Many years a^o, the agent of the Holland 

 Land Company, Mr. Oito, purchased a thorough 

 bred short horn bull from Mr. Powell, of Phila- 

 delphia, lor the benefit of the settlers of the com- 

 pany lands in the counties of Genesee, Cattarau- 

 gus, and Chautauque, comprising some of the 

 best grazing and dairy counties of the state. As 

 the services of the bull were obtained for little 

 or nothing, and as he was kept in successive 

 seasons in each of the counties above named, a 

 general sprinkling of his stock was soon scattered 

 throughout those regions, and some as high 

 as three-quarter bred animals were raised from his 

 progeny. The bull lived many years, and proved 

 an excellent stock getter. Many of the cows now 

 ranging about the streets and commons of Buffalo 

 and Black Rock, which have been brought in and 

 sold (rom these counties, are of this stock, and are 

 distinguished lor their superior appearance, and, 

 so far as my inquiries have extended, they are 

 of the finest quality as milkers ; and yet none but 

 those who are conversant with the Durham blood 

 know that they are any thing but common cows. 

 These cows are celebrated among many of our 

 dairy farmers for milkers ; and nunierous fine and 

 extraordinary lat oxen that have been slaughtered 

 at Buffalo from the surrounding country, were 

 descendants of the "Otto bull," either of the 

 first or second generation. 



I have now done with the speech of Mr. Col- 

 man, which, for his own sake, and the welfare of 



