160 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



best authority, that the large London dairies, in 

 which the Ayrshire cows lonr.f^rly occupied the 

 highest place on account of tiiciir milking quali- 

 ties, are now supplied almost wholly from the Short 

 Horn districts. The Ayrshire cow is small, but 

 she is more hardy than the Short Horn ; and the 

 opinion of an eminent breeder at the Highland Cat- 

 tle-show at Ayr in 1835 will probably be found 

 nearly correct, " that the Ayrshire cow was better 

 fitted for the cottage or the small farmer than the 

 Short Horn, but that the latter would certainly be 

 found the most profitable for the large farmer." 

 The milking properties of the Ayrshires have prob- 

 ably been exaggerated, as some with whom they 

 were favourites have stated the yield at 1000 gallons 

 a year from a cow. There are few cows of any 

 breed that would exceed, or even reach this mark. 

 The quantity a cow will give in the height of the 

 season is no criterion of the quantity she will yield 

 through the year ; and it is not uncommonly the 

 ease, that those cows which yield their milk the 

 most liberally during the summer months, "go dry," 

 as the phrase is, for the longest period. 



The writer in the Quarterly Journal from whose 

 communication the above extract on the qualities 

 of the Ayrshire cow is taken, gives the following 

 extraordinary instance of milking properties in a 

 cow, and the descent of those properties to her calf. 



•' The cow was a cross between a Short Horn bull 

 and a polled cow, and belonged to the steward of a 

 farm in Berwickshire. She yielded ten gallons a 

 day during the height of the season, and she had to 

 be milked five times a day to keep her easy She 

 would regularly come at the appointed time ;o the 

 gate of the field to be eased of her burden. * * A 

 heifer from this cow, before it ever saw a bull, for 

 none was kept on the farm on which it was bred, 

 dropped an udder and gave milk when it was only 

 two years old. The owners thought some disease 



