THE GENESEE FARMER. 



139 



IMPORTATION OF EUROPEAN CATTLE. 



Thr Aitieriean Agriculturist complains of this 

 jounuil for copyinti:, as a matter of agricultural news, 

 a short article from the St. Louis Evening JVews, 

 stating that Mr. Huxt, the Belgian Consul at St. 

 Louis, "is organizmg an association with a large 

 capital for the express purpose of importing stock 

 from Belgium and Germany." Our contemporary 

 devotes two columns of comments to this subject, in 

 which statements are made that deserve a passing 

 uotice at our hands. He says : 



" Now, we can assure the people of St. Louis in 

 particular, and Missouri in general, that they could 

 not well do a more I'oohsh thing than to import Dutch, 

 French and Belgian cattle. It would be in fact worse 

 than throTxing the money away ; for the animals on 

 arrival at St. Louis would not be worth the cost of 

 their freight, to say nothing of other expenses. The 

 cattle of these countries are no better in any single 

 point than the good native cattle of the United 

 States. They are not imported into England for the 

 purpose of imj^roving the Enghsh breed, but for beef 

 and other purposes. Yet English cattle are taken 

 to the above countries at high prices, for the express 

 purpose of improving their native stock. The very 

 best of continental stock is not equal to the thii-d 

 best breed of England. 



" ^Ve have often imported the best Dutch, Flemish, 

 French and Spanish cows into America ; and they 

 can now be found pure bred, or nearly so, from the 

 Canadag to Louisiana. Yet ask any good judge of 

 stock whether they are any improvement to our na- 

 tive breed, of which they are in a measure the foun- 

 dation ? The answer will be an emphatic — No. 



" The Dutch cows of certain breeds give a large 

 quantity, but a poor quality, of milk ; so does the 

 English Yorkshire, and thousands of nati\'e American 

 cows. But when the Dutch have doue milking, it 

 costs nearly as much to fatten them as thej^ arc worth. 

 Not so with a good Short-horn or Devon. When 

 properly bred, they will give large messes of rich 

 milk; and when dried off to fatten, they take on flesh 

 very rapidly, and pay the feeder a good profit" 



When the senior editor of the Agriculturist was 

 importing "Dutch, Flemish, French and Spanish 

 cows," Berkshire hogs, and other fancy animals, into 

 the United States to be sold at high prices, we thought 

 no better of the entei-prise then than he appears to 

 think of the Belgian Consul's noiv. It being a pri- 

 vate business transaction, it was no part of our edi- 

 torial duty to use the press to condemn the importa- 

 tions of Allen & Co. ; nor shall we imitate the Ag- 

 riculturist in proclaiming the " folly of the people of 

 St. Louis in particular, and of Missouri in general," 

 if they do what the Allens have done. If we take 

 any notice at all of these doings, our purpose is to act 

 the part of an impartial historian; and in that capacity, 

 it should not be necessary to expose past humbugs as 

 the means of preventing their repetition. 



The Agriculturist devotes most of its article to a 

 labored puff of Short-horn and Devon stock ; and it 

 treats its readers with statements that have been a 

 thousand times asserted but never proved, although 

 the proof has been demanded for twenty years by the 



dairymen and growers of beef cattle in this State. 

 When or where has it ever been demonstrated by a 

 fair trial, that a Short-horn or a Devon steer can 

 elaborate more or better meat from any given amount 

 of grass, hay, roots or grain, than our best native 

 steers of the same age ? When or wheie was it 

 proved that our best native cows can not separate as 

 much milk, butter and cheese from any given quan- 

 tity of suitable food as the best De\on or Short-horn 

 cows separate ? 



The Presidents and a majority of the Executive 

 Oflicers of the New York State Agricultural Society 

 have, from its beginning, placed that institution under 

 the control of Short-horn and Devon cattle breeders; 

 ar,d we have, year after year, urged them to test by 

 fair experiments the superiority of their high-priced 

 imported living machines for the production of meat, 

 wool, milk, cheese and butter, with such native ma- 

 chines as are used for similar purposes. They have 

 uniibrmly evaded such a trial. They are justly ap- 

 prehensive that true weights and measures, and genuine 

 science, will spoil their lucrative trade. Hence, specu- 

 lation, not an increase of professional knowledge, is 

 the spirit that governs too many agricultural associa- 

 tions. A radical reform is greatly needed ; and we 

 have watched for " the good time coming " when the 

 people would demand it. 



We do not say that the so-called improved animals, 

 of whatever name, are worthless, but that their supe- 

 riority should be demonstrated by a larger return in 

 value for their care and keep than less expensive ani- 

 mals yield. Any such race ha\'ing such vouchers of 

 unequaled productiveness will command our earnest 

 commendation. Give us a Herd Book based on 

 science in place of tradition. Your cattle and swine 

 genealogies must be weighed in an exact balance ; 

 and if not found wanting, they will gain much by 

 having passed the ordeal. How you created the first 

 pure blood, and how its virtues have been subse- 

 quently meliorated, until all other blood is dross in 

 comparison, you must make plain to common farmers. 

 Knowledge, not pretension, is the one thing needful 

 in rural arts and literature. 



IMPROVED NATIVE COWS. 



Having been reared on a dairy farm, and paid 

 much attention to the economical production of milk, 

 we have never yet seen any breed of imported cows 

 that was able to elaborate more milk, butter or cheese 

 from 1000 pounds of grass, hay or roots, than our 

 best native cows yield.- Nor are we alone in this 

 opinion. The Hon. John W. Proctor, of Danvei-s, 

 Mass., one of the most distinguished farmers of the 

 State, in an address before the Agricultural Society 

 of Hillsborough county, N. H., made the following 

 statement bearing on this subject: "Where can be 

 found an animal excelhng the Oakes cow for butter? 

 * * * She was a small sized, ordinary looking 

 cow, with a small head and neck, straight back and 

 broad hind parts, with milk vessels of best form and 

 capacity. She was taken when about two years old, 

 by a farmer in Danvers, from a drove on its way 

 from Maine to Brighton, without any certificate of 

 pedigree, as many others have been taken, and proving 

 to be a good milker, was sold to his brother Oajkes, 



