No. 3. 



Imported Stock. 



81 



cious, broad and square, stretching forward, 

 and neither fleshy, low hung, nor coarse; 

 the milk veins large and prominent, teats 

 short, and all pointing outward ; skin thin 

 and loose ; hair soft and woolly." 



This is an accurate description of the 

 Ayrshire stock imported some seven or eight 

 years ago by the State Agricultural Society. 

 The improved Ayrshire stock of the present 

 day, which are descended from the famous 

 Stcinley stock, and of which the recent im- 

 portation by the Society consists, differ in 

 some respects from those above described 

 by Aiton. The head is shorter, wider be- 

 tween the eyes and horns, thinner in the 

 fore-quarter; the shoulders finer and more 

 closely set; the limbs and body shorter, and 

 the joints more closely and firmly set; the 

 abdomen deeper and more capacious; the 

 udder broader, the milk veins more promi- 

 nent, and the teats hanging directly down ; 

 hair longer, though more silky, and finer in 

 the handling; and are altogether a hardier 

 race of animals than the Ayrshires of former 

 days. 



" The colour," says Robertson, " is gene- 

 rally a brown of many hues, from dark to 

 yellow, intermixed and mottled in many a 

 varied form and proportion with white ; al- 

 most none are of one colour. In a herd of 

 forty or fifty, there will no two of them be 

 alike in colour — in this respect exhibiting a 

 diversity not unlike a bed of tulips, and of 

 as many hues and shades, in an endless va- 

 riety of beauty." 



The North Devon stock has long been 

 celebrated as a breed of cattle beautiful in 

 the highest degree. For the dairy, they 

 cannot be considered equal to the Ayrshires; 

 but, viewing them as uniting the three qual- 

 ities of working, fattening, and milking, they 

 may be considered as unrivalled. Some of 

 the writers upon English stock give them a 

 high rank as milkers, and Mr. Conyers, of 

 Capt Hill, near Epping, a district almost ex- 

 clusively devoted to the purposes of the dai- 

 ry, preferred the North Devons, "on account 

 of their large produce, whether in milk, 

 butter, or by suckling." 



" The North Devon oxen," says an Eng- 

 lish writer, " are unrivaled at the plough. 

 They have a quickness of motion which no 

 other breed can equal, and which very few 

 horses exceed. They have also a docility 

 and goodness of temper, and also a stoutness 

 and honesty at work, to which many teams 

 of horses cannot pretend." 



Such is the character given of the breeds 

 of cattle — a bull and four cows of each — 

 which the Society have imported with a 

 view of improving the stock of the country; 



and in order that there should be no mistake 

 or disappointment as to the character of the 

 respective breeds for purity of blood, and 

 with a view of obtaining the best animals 

 upon the most reasonable terms, the trus- 

 tees decided on sending out an agent for the 

 purpose of making the selection. And ac- 

 cordingly, Mr. Alexander Bickett, of Low- 

 ell, a gentleman of intelligence, and an ex- 

 cellent judge of cattle, who had resided for 

 some years in Scotland, and personally 

 known and higlily respected by most of the 

 owners of distinguished herds of cows in 

 and about Ayrshire, was engaged in July 

 last to proceed to England and make the 

 purchase. Mr. Bickett had, within a few 

 years past, attended some of the cattle 

 shows in Scotland — had noticed the best 

 stock, and knew where he could place his 

 hand upon the best cattle in the country. 

 The acquaintance of Mr. Bickett with the 

 respective owners enabled him to treat with 

 them upon terms much more favourable to 

 the Society than could have been done by a 

 stranger. The four Ayrshire cows and the 

 Ayrshire bull selected by him, are probably 

 equal, if not superior, to any other five cat- 

 tle that could be purchased in Scotland. 

 They are all descended from the purest and 

 best blood of the Ayrshire stock. 



In the selection of the North Devon stock, 

 Mr. Bickett applied directly to the Earl of 

 Leicester, from whose beautiful herd of 

 North Devon cows he hoped to be allowed 

 to make the purchase. When it was made 

 known to the young Earl that the stock was 

 wanted for the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture, he generously and 

 very readily fell in with the views of Mr. 

 Bickett; and, possessing all the kind feel- 

 ings of his father, the late venerable Earl of 

 Leicester, toward the people of this country, 

 he allowed Mr. B. to select from his flock, 

 at a very moderate price, a cow and three 

 beautiful heifers, all in calf by one of the 

 most celebrated North Devon bulls in the 

 country. The Earl having no bull that he 

 could part with, he recommended a young 

 bull of Mr. Blomfield, which Mr. Bickett 

 succeeded, after much importunity, in pur- 

 chasing. 



The cattle were all shipped at Liverpool, 

 about the first of September last, and arrived 

 in Boston about the first of October. They 

 were attended on the voyage by Mr. Bickett, 

 and with so much care and fidelity on his 

 part that no injury happened to them, and 

 they were in as fine condition when landed 

 in Boston as when put on board the ship at 

 Liverpool. The North Devon cow calved 

 on the passage from Europe, and the three 



