30 



The Pumpkin-Rumped Cattle. 



Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Pumpkin-rumped Cattle. 



Mr. Editor, — I find in the recently pub 

 lished volume of the New York State Agri 

 cultural Transactions, a very particular and 

 well-defined description of this breed of cat- 

 tle, which I believe has deceived many of us 

 into an admiration for them which they by 

 no means deserve ; and as I conceive there 

 are still those amongst us who would be 

 benefited by the diffusion of a little more 

 knowledge on the subject, I have transcribed 

 from the Report of the Committee on Animals 

 for Tompkins County Agricultural Society, 

 the well-written account which follows, and 

 which I present for publication in the Cabi- 

 net. 



" In speaking of the Durhams, your com- 

 mittee have no reference to a breed of cattle 

 often called by that name, but whose charac- 

 teristics are essentially different, and which, 

 by assuming the name, have injured the 

 reputation of the genuine Durhams over va- 

 rious sections of country. We allude to a 

 variety of Yorkshire cattle, readily distin- 

 guished by the peculiar conformation of the 

 hind quarter, which is not dissimilar to the 

 hog in a high state of fatness. Hence they 

 are designated in some portions of the coun- 

 try as 'hog-ham'd,' 'pumpkin-rumped,' and 

 by other appellations descriptive of their pe- 

 culiar form. From the hip to the point of 

 the rump, they are short, like the hog ; and 

 from the root of the tail to the bottom of the 

 fleshy part of the thighs, the buttock projects 

 outwards, describing more or less completely 

 the segment of a circle, instead of the nearly 

 perpendicular line which distinguishes the 

 true Durham. Marshall, an English author 

 of high authority, calls them ' the cloddy- 

 buttocked Yorkshires,' and speaks of them 

 as one of the worst breeds known in Eng- 

 land. Usually of a deep red colour, not des- 

 titute, too, of a certain general smoothness 

 and symmetry ; growing with great rapidity 

 and thriftiness when young, and attaining a 

 large size, it is by no means singular that 

 they should attract notice and admiration, 

 where their properties are unknown; and 

 possessing such qualities, it may, perhaps, be 

 asked, what are the counter-balancing disad- 

 vantages which should lead to their con- 

 demnation, and which at this time calls out 

 this so direct and explicit censure from your 

 committee ! The very size, apparent thrifti- 

 ness and showy qualities of this breed, form 

 reasons which have influenced your commit- 

 tee in this course; and from the fact, that 

 such outside qualities are well calculated to 

 deceive the inexperienced. And it is well- 

 known they have so deceived the stock grow- 



ers in many sections of our state ; not only 

 occasioning actual loss — for we deem them 

 entirely inferior to our native breed of cattle 

 — but they have retarded improvements, dis- 

 couraged others' efforts, and not unfrequently 

 led to an entire scepticism on the part of the 

 farmer, as to the feasibility of any improve- 

 ment in our breeds of cattle. Their bad 

 qualities may be summed up as follows, viz. 

 — 1. Cows often perish in giving birth to 

 their calves, the great size of the rump in 

 the foetus rendering it impossible to pass the 

 bones of the pelvis. 2. Although always 

 fleshy, they are never fat; the beef never 

 handsomely mottled with fat and lean; and 

 they are proverbially poor provers, or in other 

 words, they do not tallow well. 3. Their 

 meat, when killed at any age, has a dark or 

 blue tinge, which renders it far less valuable 

 or marketable. 4. They are decidedly an in- 

 ferior race of milkers." 



On reading the above description, I was 

 tempted to turn to the portrait of the Dur- 

 ham bull " Patriot," page 345 of the 5th vol. 

 of the Cabinet, and almost fancied that I 

 could detect in his remarkably round and full 

 buttock, a little too much of the fault here 

 pointed out; but I suppose I must be wrong, 

 for we are there informed that he sold for 

 five hundred guineas, which to be sure was 

 a sum of money sufficient to cover a very 

 large " sin." I wish, however, that some of 

 our "thorough-bred" friends would please 

 inform us if, at this time of day, such a but- 

 tock would not be considered rather large 

 than otherwise; at all events, it will not 

 admit of the description given of the im- 

 proved Durhams in the above report, namely, 

 the nearly perpendicular line which in them 

 forms their distinction, and which I could but 

 particularly remark to be the case in these 

 two peculiarly fine bulls — so very much alike, 

 too — " His Grace," and " Prince of Wales," 

 which were exhibited at the Philadelphia 

 Agricultural Show, at the Rising Sun, the 

 last year, and which, as they so richly de- 

 served, won golden opinions. In conclusion, 

 may I be permitted to ask, if I am at liberty 

 to consider these two bulls " the best in the 

 United States" at the present day? — or if 

 not, would one of the many, whom I am 

 willing to admit are likely to know more 

 than one, who is by no means conversant 

 with the "niceties of judgment" of which he 

 hears — namely, "that it takes a full hour 

 thoroughly to examine an animal, begfnning 

 with the inside of the eye and nose," be 

 pleased to point out their imperfections. 



W. O. 



" Celerity is never more admired, than 

 by the negligent." 



