FARMERS' REGISTER— LEGISLATIVE AID TO AGRICULTURE. 



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bull, was taken hy -An " improved Durham short 

 horn," bred by Mr. Whitaker, (sired by his favo- 

 rite bull " Frederick,") whicli I now have at Ma- 

 ple Grove. The importante I allach to pcdi<j;ree, 

 and the desire I have that it should be iuUy esti- 

 mated by others, induces me to offer the following 

 extract on the subject from the Rev. Henry Ber- 

 ry's Prize Essay, as found in " Hints for American 

 Husbandmen," &c. He states: 



" It is possible that a good male may beget a son 

 equally good as himself in externals, from 

 an ill bred female, but it is certain that such son 

 will prove comparatively an inferior stock getter, 

 it being an established fact that animals breed 

 BACK in point of resemblance, and it is therelbre 

 considered necessary, for (he object of impi'ove- 

 ments or to retain excellence, to have a pedigree as 

 little dubious as possible, for several generations. 

 So important indeed is this fact of correct descent, 

 that many breeders, who have, from causes which 

 it is ditlicult to ascertain, a well bred animal of 

 defective form, venture to use him, relying on his 

 blood, and experience no reason for regret that they 

 have done so." 



Having said thus much on the importance of 

 pedigree, I will now remark, in reference to the 

 '^ improved short horns," that no animal can be 

 considered full bred, whose pedigree, both on the 

 part of the dam and sire, is not to be traced uiiiii- 

 terruptedly back to the " Herd Book," w hich has 

 been in England carefully kept as a register of 

 this breed of cattle, with all the exactness of the 

 "stud book." In purchasing .swf/(. cattle nothing 

 need be said, nothing need l)e taken on trust, — tlie 

 " Herd Book" is the best voucher of pedigree, and 

 I would strongly recommend that a copy sliould be 

 kept in (he office of every agricultural journal as 

 a book of reference, which would enalde the editor 

 to answer any and every inquiry on the suliject of 

 pedigi'ee relative to the " improved Short Horns.'" 

 Short Horns are the prevailing breed of Flan- 

 ders, part of Holland, and as far north as Holstein; 

 and, from importations, are now the conm.on stock 

 of the north of England, under the various modi- 

 fications of " Short Horns," " Tecswaler," and 

 " Durham" cattle. They were also imported into 

 tliis country, under the appellation of Dutch cattle, 

 and their descendants are common in the neighbor- 

 hood of Hartford, and through the Connecticut 

 valley; also along the borders of New Hampshire 

 and Vermont, where they were introduced by VVm. 

 Jarvis, Esq. " who after twenty years experience 

 on the subject thinks they cannot be improved by 

 any cross or any breed of cattle." E. Wolcott, 

 Esq. a skilful and practical farmer of Connecticut, 

 it ssems, m as not of the same opinion ; for this gen- 

 tleman, after purchasing a few heifers from Mr. 

 Jarvis, travelled into Masschusetts, and there saw 

 the imj)orted bulls Denton, Calebs, and jJdmiral, 

 of the improved Short Horn breed, and their oil- 

 spring: and then, in a letter addressed to tlie cor- 

 responding secretary of the Pennsylvania Agri- 

 cultural Society, expresses himself fully persuaded 

 of the superiority of these last, and purchased a 

 young bull of the improved breed. It would ap- 

 pear, also, that the English breeders did not remain 

 so well satisfied with their importations from Hol- 

 land as to "continue to keep the blood distinct." 

 In tracing the history of the improved Short Horns, 

 we are led back nearly one bundled years, to tlie 

 time of Sir Wm. St. Quintin, of Scumpston, who 



resided in the north of England, and there intro- 

 duced, from Holland, the cattle, which crossed 

 with the best stocks of the country, possessed of 

 the same characteristics, became distinguished as 

 the " Teeswater Short Horns," That considera- 

 rable attention to the inijjrovement of this breed 

 had been given, even at tliis early period, is evident, 

 from the results of Mr. Miibank of Barningham, 

 who slaughtered a five year old ox of this breed, 

 weighing 2,110 lbs. the four quarters, and yielding 

 224 lbs. of tallow. A cow, also bred from his 

 stock, slaughtered at twelve years old, weighed up- 

 wards of 1500 lbs.; and this cow was the daughter 

 of the old studly bull, one of the most celebrated 

 ancestors of the improved Short Horns. He was 

 the grand sire of Dalloii Duke, afterwards the 

 property of Mr. Welherill,a cclebiated breeder of 

 the improved Short Horns. Mr. Geo. Snowden, 

 of early memory, also obtained from Sir Wm. St. 

 Quintin's stock, six cows and a bull, from which 

 he bred Snowden' s bull, the sire of Ilubbock, another 

 noted ancestor of the improved breed. It will now 

 be sufficient to say, that in Mr. C. Coliing's bull 

 Foljambe,\\\Q Barningham and Hubbock's blood 

 were united, and that this bull was the grandsire 

 of Comet, X\\Q most celebrated animal in the "Herd 

 Book;" to which we refer those who would wish 

 to fill up, more particularly, the skeleton, here 

 traced from the Rev. H. Berry's pamphlet on the 

 subject. He further says — " from the time of Mr. 

 Miibank to the period when Mr. C. Colling com- 

 menced breeding, it appears, then, that considera- 

 ble care had been bestowed on the Teeswater 

 cattle," the originals of ihe improved ^\\OYi Horns; 

 and the records, since, most amply proved their 

 continued and improving excellence. Again the 

 Rev. H. Berry observes: 



" It is on testimony unimpeachable and experi- 

 ence most matured, that the animals, respecting 

 wiiich j)articulars have been given, were in them- 

 selves extremely good, ripe in points, possessing 

 line symmetry, and light olTal. Surely it is justi- 

 fiat)le to conclude the originals of the improved 

 Short Horns were long deservedly celebrated as a 

 valualde stock; that therefore their descendants 

 are not a breed, as to excellence, of yesterday, lia- 

 ble and likely to degenerate to-morrow; but that 

 they possess the important advantage of being de- 

 scended from a long line of animals in which ex- 

 isted, in an eminent degree, the good points which 

 are admired in themselves." 



Being an admirer of the improved Short Horns, 

 I have endeavored to set them apart and alone, in 

 contradistinction to the w hole Short Horn family, 

 and its various and mixed varieties, and as a sepa- 

 rate breed, not coming at all within the remarks 

 cited by " Ulmus," as objections, and valid ones 

 too, against " short horn Durham bulls." I could 

 almost imagine the writer of the quoted paragraph, 

 had made his selection of a bull, from a batch of 

 Short Horns, manufactured in Connecticut for the 

 western market, which I saw parading the streets 

 of Albany, (some eighteen months since) in a long 

 and ludicrous procession; they looked the very 

 burlesque of pedigree — and yet, they found pur- 

 chasers ! R. 



legislative aid to agriculture. 



Kiiiiii tlio Newark Daily Advertiser. 



The proposition introduced in the New York 

 Legislature, to found an experimental school of 



