NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Published by JOHN B. RUS.SF. I.L, nt thp corner of Congrrss niu l l.iri flall Street?, (Six Monr^ frnm thff Post Offif^Q Rostoii TUOA TAS O. Fr«?r:xhKiV, FniTOn. 



'"'' No. 50. 



VOL. III. 



FRIDAY, JULY «, 182.0. 



AaRzcvziTuns. 



/ 



REPLY TO COL. PICKERING ON NATIVE 

 CATTLE, S:c.— No. 2. 



Jonathan Roberts, Esq. 



President of the Pcnn. ^Igric. Society — 

 Dear Sir, — Ccl, Pir,kering''3 objects -.ind mine 

 nre the same ; we differ in the mode?, I13' which 

 Ihey are to be allaincd. He desiros to improve 

 onr " native" stock, without the aid of foreign 

 breeds. He ascribes the larger product of Eng- 

 lish dairies, to llie super orily of English pas- 

 lures. He admits Aat breed essentiallv affecls 

 the properties of the ar.ima! — argues that the 

 cattle of Devonshire imporleJ by onr ancestors 

 some ages ago, transtnitted to their progeny 

 the characteristics by which they are known ; 

 .ind m.init'esfl his belief in the eilects of cross 

 ing by Iho instance, which he has given, in Mr 

 AVelles'' cow of " Eno-Zi'sA breed," aUhongh." de- 

 scended (but) by a cross" from one imported 

 nearly ihirtij years ago. He gives extracts from 

 my communications, and deduce.s arguments to 

 overthrow impressions, wiiich 1 diil not intend 

 to convey. He remarks, " Mr Poivel contro- 

 verts an opinion, ivhich has been expressed, 

 that the cattle of Massachusetts are of the De- 

 von breed," and in j)roof quotes a passage from 



one of my letters, wherein 1 had observed "I 



would contend th:il the ri.\r.sT cattle of Massn- 

 thnsells. are mixed with families, of which Mr 

 Gore, Mr Stuart, l\I^^"aughan imported ihe sires. 

 Lancashire, Leicester and Hereford blood can be 

 traced by a pr.icti^ed eye, in many of .the Res'- 

 w.-rking- o\(>n, e^iiibiied at the New England 

 agricultural shows." 



He continues— "although satisfied that the 

 Wood of those imported calile n\' Gore, .Stuart 

 npd Vaughan was here of very limited extent, 1 

 Jiave made inquiry to ascertain the facts." 



In Ihe same page he confirms my assertion that 

 " Hereford blood can be traceil,'" by saying — 

 " Now although I suppose the Devon race to be 

 predominant in New England, I doubt not that 

 some of other breed* were early introduced by 

 our ancestors— some Herefords unipiestionabhj, 

 ■sshosc dcjcendanis are yet distinguished by their 

 white faces ;" and in the next sentence, adds— 

 " white faced cattle of our native stock are tw^' 

 often to be seen." 



I have neither thought, nor am I conscious of 

 having at any time written, or said one word. 

 which could controvert the opinion, that the cat- 

 tle of Massachusetts are generally of the Devon 

 breed. In the very sentence preceding the one 

 which Colonel Pickering has quoted, I had ar- 

 kuowledged, that they had been brought by Ihe 

 colonists, who emigrated from Devonshire, i 

 hut asserted that " the finest cattle are mixed 

 ■with families of which Mr Gore, Mr Stuart and 

 Mr Vaughan imported the sires." If more hac 

 been so mixed, so many would not be bad. Th- 

 term finest, necessarily limits the number to few 

 I cannot i)e suspected of anxiety to prove, thai 

 the cattle of Massachusetts, wliereof Col. Pick- 

 ering asserts, •• few can be found of superior 

 cliaracter." are not of Devon blood. 



The '■'facts''' which he has had the goodness 

 t« atcerlaiu, prove that Mr Gore's bull, was as 



handsome and as large, as any bull "he h:iS;chnfetts siock is inferior to theirs inlhe urliclcs n 



since seen ;'' that he was kept from '94 until "98 1 bulls, co-^-s, sheep and hogs ;" ^nd adds, '• no mat. 



by Mr Gore's manager, who was allowed d// that | who ever saw Denton, Mr Williams' bull— Fill 



Pail, Mr Thorndike's, presented by Ijim (o the 

 AgriculturnI Society— Ccolebo, sent to our coun- 

 try by Mr Coolidge — or Holderness, imported 

 by Mr Parsons, could entertain a doubt, that they 

 rvere superior to anyanimuls, ol the same descrip- 

 tion, which xve had ever seen.'' All im/jorted 

 short horn bidls. 



" The simple fact, that farmer.^, always loo 

 cautious of adventurin.if their money, were ready 

 to send their coiv.-i at five dollars,' and even leu 

 dollars, lo these imported animals, instead of 

 fifty cents for the use of our native bulls, is con- 

 clusive." 



" But wliat is still more conclusive, because 

 the facts we have now mentioned .night have 

 been the eflVcl of fashion, or of speculation, is, 

 that when tbi? progeny of these animals appeared 

 at our shows, ihey attracted every eye, and com- 

 manded on an :\\ernge four times the price of 

 our native breeds." 



" The effect has been so great as to cause the 

 disappearance of our native breed of ^yuiio- ani- 

 mals at our bhows, with n few exceptions." 



.'It the first cattle show in Pennsylvania, of 

 twenty premiums for bulls, heifers and cows, 

 eighteen were tnken by animals of short horn 

 blood. A( the second, all the premiums were 

 taken by animals of short horn blood. At the 

 third, where 1.30 neat cattle, from different 

 stales— New York, Mnryhind, Kentucky? Dela- 

 ware and. .New England, were shown, of twenty 

 premiums, nineteen were taken by those of short 

 horn blood. .\l Ihe Maryland cattle show, of 

 Ihe last year, the same superiority wasapparent, 

 even ivhen half bred Short Horns were opjiosed 

 by thorough bred Dcvons. At the last Maryland 

 exhibition, on Ihe 1st of June, the judges were 

 not satisfied wilh awarding Ihe premiums in 

 proof oi Iheir superior excellence, but they give 

 the most unquaiitied opinion in their favour by 

 saying — - 



"That they award to Edward Lloyd, of Tal- 

 bot county, for his bull Champion, the premium 

 of ten dollars, as the best full blood improved 

 short horn bull, 



" Champion having heretofore received a dis- 

 cretionary premium on his (irst arrival in this 

 country, his owner generously declined entering 

 him lor Ihe premium to be awanled for the best 

 l>ull ot any breed, believing, we presume, -with 

 this committee, that to be the best bull of the im- 

 proved short horn blood, is to bo the best bull of 

 any hreed.^'' 



was received for his services ; that in '98 he 

 was bought by a mnn in Vermont, although ^•un- 

 ruly ,■" that Mr Stuart's heifer was taken toGer- 

 inantown, where she produced a male calf; that 

 she was so valuable, as lo be sent wilh her calf, 

 lo Boston, for Ihe purpose of breeding ; that Mr 

 Vaughan look his cow into Maine. If .Mr Gore's 

 bull begat in the year "91 only ten bull calves, 

 which in the year '9C begat each ten bull calves, 

 their prsgeny might be more numerous, on a 

 fair calculation, tlian all the cattle I have seen, 

 or can ever see, in New England. But it has 

 been proved, that Mr Gore's manager was al- 

 lowed to use the bull for his o'vn beiielit during 

 four years. 



Col. Pickering has given no facts, nor even 

 his beliet", a-- lo the bull's progeny in Vermont, 

 one ol the slates, ivhcnce large herds of cattle 

 are derived. 



I have seen in Maine, many very line Individ-] 

 uals of the long horned race, exhibiting the! 

 strongest points of their breed; not only upon 

 Mr Vaughan's estates, but even in the wilder- 

 ness, where I recollect a bull, purchased at high 

 price, and considered so rem:irliablc in his form, 

 that 1 uiis led many miles out of my \vay, to 

 look at him, in the town called Bingham. 



Of "Mr Stuart's breed," Col. Pickering has 

 given one instance, and I have seen many. Some 

 year- since, I sent from Nnrihboro' lo"Maine,a 

 i>''!l trom a cow which was shown lo me as one 

 of ibis breed, and as Ihe best upon the farm. 1 

 would ask of what breeds were Col. Chapin"s 

 oxen — Ihe black and white oxen — and the line 

 brindle and dim cow, which have been seen about 

 Worcester, or noticed at Boston, and Brighton, 

 as worthy of premium and particular regard? 



But to put at rest the deduclion.s lo show, that 

 I " controvert the opinion, that the cattle of Mas- 

 sachusetts are generally of the Dsvon breed," 

 I repeat, that I believe Ihey were derived from 

 the Devon breed, but 1 think they have been 



.mproved for the purposes of the yoke, and for 

 those ol'the dairy, although it has" been shown, 

 that in five instances out of six, reported lo the 

 Massachusetts Society, the dairies of native cat- 

 tle afforded on an average but 92 pounds of butter 

 a year. 



I continue lo adhere to the authorities quoted 

 by Col. Pickering, in order that no question may 

 arise, as to Iheir validity or force. I have re- 

 served, as Ihe most important, and conclusive 

 evidence, the opinions conveyed by Mr Luwoll, 

 the President of the Massachusetts Agricuitural 

 Society, whose.knowledge and research — wiin-^e 

 aliility and zeal — whose fairness and precision, 

 are alike manifest, in his practice and in his es- 

 s lys, not merely on paper, but upon the soil. 

 He urges the improvement of "native" cattle, 

 "ut acknowledging that '.'0 or 30 years would be 

 required, to enable us to bring them into suc- 

 cessful competilioi) with those of Great Britain, 

 l-roeeeds in his formal report, on the Massachu- 

 setts Show of to observe — " the 



best working cattle of Massachusetts are as much 

 superior to tliose of Great Britain as the Massa 



any 



It is to be remarked, that the gentlemen wlia 

 compose the stock committees at Ihe Pennsylva- 

 nia shows, are intelligent graziers, and fairaers, 

 who live by their vocation. By the act of incor- 

 poration, they must be practical men Upon 

 the land occupieil by four of these, who last 

 year determined the awards, at least 1,000 cat- 

 tle are maintained; and l>y one of Ibera, several 

 thousands of " store cattle" are annually sold. 

 On examining the proceedings of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Agricultural Society, it will be found, that 

 they not only preferred animals of Improved 

 Short Horn blood, but without baving a*,eeas t» 



