1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



33 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BULL— EARL OF SEAHAM. 



JIr. Editor : — I observe in your May number a 

 portrait of the bull Eaul of Seaiiam that I select- 

 ed in England, and jointly, with Col. Sherwood, 

 imported. This portrait was taken and engraved 

 for the later national Magazine, but was by its 

 proprietors condemned, and I had hoped not to 

 see it in print. In two inip')rtant points it does 

 the bull groat injustice ; it gives him the coat of a 

 hog, and feet too small to walk with, even to stand 

 upon. 



I send jon another likeness of the bull, that at 

 least represents a coat of hair, (giving assui;ance 

 of good touch) and feet upon which he can stand 

 and witli whicli he can walk. 



Seaham was sliown at the New York State Ag- 

 ricultural Show held at Albany, in 1850, and won 

 the first prize for two year old Short horn Durliam 

 bulls, beating Mr. George Vail's jjulls Fortune 

 (by his Bates bull imported Wellington) and Eclipse 

 by liis prize bull I\Ieteor. 



In Oct., 1850, he was shown at the fair of the 

 American Institute in the city of New York and 

 won the first prize for Short horn bulls two j^ears 

 old and upwards. 



In September, 1851, Seaham then three years 

 old, won the first prize for Short horn bulls three 

 years old and over, at the Show of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society at Rochester, beating 

 Mr. L. G. Morris' prize bull Lamar tine, and a num- 

 ber of others. 



Earl of Seaham, is of a distinguished family, 

 known as the Princess Tribe. For style, quality 

 and milk, it is, in my opinion, the best in England 

 or America. 



My cow, imported. Princess I., last year at four 

 years old, gave on dry feed with meal for two 

 months, twenty-one to twenty-three quarts of rich 

 milk, and in Ma}' and June on grass twenty-three 

 to twenty-six quarts a day ; and this spring on 

 hay, turnips and four quarts of meal has given 

 twenty-four quarts per day and made 13 pounds 

 and 9 ounces of butter in one Aveek. My heifer 

 imported Princess IV., this spring on hay, tur- 

 nips and 4 quarts of meal, at her first calving has 

 given twenty-two quarts of rich milk." Col. Sher- 

 wood's cow imported Red Rose, at four year's old, 

 witli her second calf, made 60 pounds and 4 ounces 

 of butter in 30 days ending the 15th of June, 1851 , 

 and 47 pounds and 11 ounces in August, amid all 

 the drouglits of that month. During five months 

 she averaged as much in milk and butter as dur- 

 ing tiftse sixty days. 



All the cows of this Princess tribe, now import- 

 ed that have calved, are good milkers, and I know 

 that Mr. Stephenson, their breeder, has not a mod- 

 erate milker in his herd ; they are all good milk- 

 ers both in quantity and quality. 



I add the pedigree of Seaham, that his long- 

 continued high breeding may be seen : 



Earl of Seaham, (10,161.) K^aw; calved April 21, 1848; 

 bred hy John Stepliensnii, Tsq., Wolviston, county of Dur 

 h:im, England; imported 1650, by A. Stevens and .1. M. Slier- 

 wfidil; got by EaO of Antrim, (10,174;) d^m, Primrose, by 

 N.ipier, (6218;) grandam, Rose Ann, by liellerophon, ('illfl;) 

 great grandam, Rosette, by Uelvedere, (1706;) gr.gr. gran- 

 dam, Red R.-'se, by Waterloo, (2816;) gr. gr gr. granrlam, 

 Moss Rose, by Baron. (58;) gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam, Angelina, 

 (bred by Sir Henry Vane Tempest.) by Phenomenon, (491;) 

 gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam Anna IJolevne, by Favorite, (2'2;) 

 gr. gr gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam, Princess, (bred by Robert Col- 

 ling,) by Favorite, (252;) gr gr. gr. gr. gr..gr. gr. grandam, 

 Urighteyes, by Favorite, (2.')2;) gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. 



grandam, Brighteyes, (Jired by Alexander Hall,) by Ilnbback, 

 (••n9;) gr. gr. gr. gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.gr. grandam, Jirighteyes, 

 by Siiowdon's IJull, (612;) gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. 

 grandam, IJeauty, (l)red by Thomas Hall,) by Masierman's 

 Bull, (422;) gr. gr. gr. gr. gr.gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam, 

 Duchess of Alholl, by Flarrison's Bull, (292;) gr. gr. gr. gr. 

 gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam. Tripes, (bred by C 

 Pickering,) by the Siudley BnlJ, (626;) gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.gr. 

 gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. grandam', bred by Mr. Stephenson, of 

 Ketton, in 1739. (See 9th vol. Herd Book, |iages 65 and 526.) 



This tribe had been in possession of Mr. Stephen- 

 son, of Ketton, and his father, of Acklam, as far 

 back as 1684, and prior to that in the possession 

 of the Aislal)ies of Aislabie, and Studley, as early 

 as 1600. The celebrated bull llubback was of this 

 family, his grandam being bred by j\lr. SteplTen- 

 son, of Ketton, and by him sold to Mr. Hunter, 

 the breeder of llubback. For seventy years prior 

 to 1765, in which year Mr. Hunter bought Hub- 

 back's grandam, Mr. Stephenson, his father and 

 grandfather, had kept no other cattle than those of 

 this tribe. 



You mention the deficient milking qualities of 

 Short horns in general. This is true as to some. 

 Yet it has been the result of such treatment as 

 must ever ruin the milking capacity. 



Taken as a race, no breed ever equalled the Short 

 horns as milkers in point of quantity, and none ev- 

 er excelled them in quality, when giving as much 

 in quantity. Milking has always been their char- 

 acteristic. Many breeders not desiring the milk, 

 have bred their herds for beef only, and have lost 

 this quality, yet that was not the fault of the race. 

 Evei-y prize won for years at the New Y''ork Agri- 

 cultural Society Shows, has been carried off by 

 Short born cows, never by a Devon or Ayrshire. 



I differ with you as to Devons and Ayrshire. All 

 the persons within my knowledge, save one, who 

 have tried the Ayrshiresin this country, have aban- 

 doned them. Mr. Prentice, of Albany, has bred 

 them for years, and at present does so, solely. 

 He claims for them great excellence in this re- 

 spect. On the other hand Mr. Colt, of Patterson, 

 who imports from the best sources in Scotland, has 

 abandoned them as indifferent, and he has for 

 years pursued the production of milk with great 

 skill and care. I might add other names to the 

 list of those who have tried and rejected the Ayr- 

 shires as worthless. Experience has shown that 

 in America they are miserable feeders (they are 

 so in Scotland) and indifferent milkers. The cli- 

 mate is too hot for them. I am told that Mr. 

 Gushing, of your State, near Boston, has aban- 

 doned them, and he imported at large expense and 

 tried them fully and fairly. 



I am a breeder of Devons, and an admirer of 

 them, deeming them one of the best races of cat- 

 tle in the world. I have been an attentive observ- 

 er of them for twenty-two years, and have seen 

 them in thousands both in England and America. 



As a race, they have never had a milking char- 

 acter, and the most of Devons are now worthless 

 or only moderate as milkers. The great mass of 

 those now and formerly to be seen in this country 

 were and are moderate animals in many respects. 

 They had and have thin narrow backs and chines ; 

 flat ribs and bad crops, sinking behind the shoul- 

 der ; short stiff hair, thin on their hides, and no 

 undercoat, readily admitting the rain ; hides thick 

 and hard and as a consequence they are bad hand- 

 lers ; bad ])riskets, narrow and receding, with 

 leathery chops and heavily dewlapped necks ; thin 

 plates, with bagging paunchy bellies. If to this 



