182 



Alderney Cmus. 



Vol. V. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Alderney Cows. 



Sir, — I am much pleased with your propo- 

 sal, to e^ive us, periodically, the portraits of 

 the different breeds of English cattle, from 

 Youatt's standard work, published by Grigg 

 & Elliot, accompanying each with a descrip- 

 tive notice ; for, as our breeds of cattle in 

 this country are very much of the precise 

 varieties of the English herds, it will enable 

 us to judge of our individual animals, and 

 class them accordingly. I sometime since 

 obtained a sight of that interesting publica- 

 tion at the house of a friend, and regretted 

 that the price was such as to put it out of the 

 power of many of my small neighbours as 

 well as myself to obtain it, but judging from 

 the first specimen which you have given us, 

 of the Alderney cow, and learning that one- 

 half the book is occupied with the descrip- 

 tion and treatment of the diseases of cattle — 

 a work much wanted by us, as a great num- 

 ber must, of necessity, reside far away from 

 advice and assistance in time of need — I shall 

 not rest satisfied until I procure it. In the 

 meanwhile, we shall be furnished, through 

 the pages of the Cabinet, with handsome por- 

 traits of every distinct breed, and your inten- 

 tion to fit each with its living prototype, is a 

 liappy thought, and I am very curious to know 

 what animal is designed for publication in 

 j'our next number. The last is, I think, pe- 

 culiarly well matched, for I remember seeing 

 the cow herself, at the Philadelphia Agricul- 

 tural Society's Exhibition, fastened to a post 

 at the entrance of the yard, and wondered 

 how it had become the fashion to ridicule the 

 breed, for I thought her very pretty for the 

 dairy, and could easily conceive, that by ju- 

 dicious crossing amongst themselves, they 

 might soon be made more valuable for other 

 purposes. But I found, upon inquiry, that 

 she had been brought there for crossing with 

 the Ayrshire bull, and not for exhibition : 

 now, I cannot see what the advantage of such 

 a cross is expected to be, for — if it be allowed 

 me — I would say, I do not consider the Ayr- 

 shire a distinct breed, but a variety that has 

 been formed by crossing witii others, and 

 they are precisely what they have thus been 

 made, too small for beef, and not sufficiently 

 deep as milkers to render them very desirable 

 for the dairy ; for I fear they carry too much 

 flesh to warrant the expectation of very rich 

 milk — all cream, as it is usual to denominate 

 that drawn from the Alderneys. For myself, 

 I should find no difficulty of choice, for if my 

 object were beef, I would select the short- 

 horns at once, while, for butter, I must expect 

 to sacrifice that point, and would, therefore, 

 go the whole hog, and take the Alderneys, 

 wretched as they are in appearance, and de- 



spised in character. But my own experience 

 of the breed is by no means so contemptible 

 as their enemies would fain lead us to ima- 

 gine ; I once owned one of these animals, but 

 did not observe that " she ale as much as a 

 large cow, and required extra shelter and 

 keep to render her at all passable as a milker ;" 

 on the contrary, she fared as my other cowa 

 did, received no extra keep or shelter, ate 

 about two-thirds the quantity of food, and 

 gave almost two-thirds more of butter than 

 most of them. But this was not all, or near 

 it, for the extremely rich and yellow milk 

 which she gave, produced such colouring 

 when mixed with that of the other cows, as 

 enabled me to sell my butter for two or three 

 cents a pound more than I should otherwise 

 have obtained for it ; and, what was of far 

 more importance, shortened my market hours, 

 so that I usually reached home long before 

 the time I should else have done ; and thus 

 was I saved many days of my life in attend- 

 ing market. I kept this little animal for se- 

 veral years, and at last she had the misfortune 

 to slip her hip, when, not being in calf, I de^ 

 termined to feed her, which I did, amidst the 

 jeers of my friends and neighbours for miles 

 around, who were accustomed to ask me, 

 what I would take for my bag of bones ? 

 But it is a fact, that I never fed an animal 

 that paid me so well for the food which she 

 ate, and so far from the meat being poor and 

 tasteless, I have the testimony of my jeering 

 neighbours, that finer flavoured beef was ne- 

 ver tasted ; very yellow in the tallow, and 

 much inside fat, with the flesh well mixed, 

 and weighing far beyond the highest figure 

 that was named by any of us. This cow I 

 obtained out of a drove of cattle that came 

 from the west, by way of make-weight, for, 

 instead of splitting the difference which 

 there was between me and the drover, in the 

 price of fifteen cattle for which I was offer- 

 ing, he threw in the offal, as he called her, 

 as a set-offi which, however, proved far more 

 advantageous to me than all that I gained by 

 the whole purchase. 



Now, be it remembered, I would by no 

 means recommend these small, and I am will- 

 ing to call them ugly cattle, as suitable stock 

 for the Kentucky blue-grass pastures; but 

 there are " situations and circumstances," in 

 which, I am quite satisfied, they would be 

 found of far more value than larger and hand- 

 somer stock; and, judging by the way in 

 which two of these wretched-looking objects, 

 which were exhibited at the Agricultural So- 

 ciety's meeting, as Guernsey/ coios, just t>ff 

 their voyage, went up to $200 each in price, 

 there were others who thought so too. I 

 should be glad to learn into whose hands 

 these " bags of bones" fell, and if they ever 

 recovered any of their flesh — their milk, for 



