CATTLE ffUSBANDRY. 27 



winter, the native cattle of New England as a whole gradually fell 

 off, and it was early noted by prominent agriculturists that there 

 must be fresh infusions of improved blood to keep up the cattle 

 to what they had been. Early in the eighteenth century cattle 

 were imported especially for breeding purposes, but it was not 

 until the present century that such importations were regularly 

 made ; but from 1815 to the present period importations of thor- 

 oughbred ncjat stock have been carried on with regularity, and 

 in 1868 the amount of importations rose in value nearly two 

 and a half millions of dollars, and in 1869 probably more. The 

 breeds from which selections have been made are the Shorthorns, 

 the Devons, the Herefords, the Ayrshires, the Jerseys, the 

 Galloways, a few Dutch by Mr. Chenery, a few Brittanies by Mr. 

 Flint and occasionally a Kerry cow from Ireland. 



It is not worth while for me to give a history of any of these 

 breeds in detail, and I will only repeat what you all probably 

 know, that what are styled " Shorthorns " are improvements by 

 long continued breeding on a large, roving and rather coarse 

 cattle known as the Teeswater breed, so called from the river 

 Tees, a stream dividing the counties of York and Durham in 

 England. These Teeswater cattle were the earliest dairy breed 

 of which we have any account, and their excellence at the pail 

 was an^inherent quality, which all the long after-course of breed- 

 ing to produce beef has not eradicated, and which still charac- 

 terizes some families and tribes of the improved Shorthorns. 

 The Colling brothers, Robert and Charles, are pre-eminent as 

 the earliest breeders of the modern Shorthorns, but great im- 

 provements have been made since their day, and none of these 

 animals could successfully compete with the prize winners of to- 

 day in England, nor with the herds of Messrs. Thorne & Sheldon, 

 and the unequalled herd of Messrs. Wolcott & Campbell, of New 

 York, and Mr, Cochrane, of Canada. There are probably now in 

 the United States 7,000 to 8,000 well-bred breeding animals of 

 the Shorthorn family, 6,000 of which are females ; and nearly 

 all those in New England are of good milking families, whilst 

 those of the West are more famous for beef making. 



The Devons, which were largely introduced into New England 

 by the early settlers, were a very early race in England, but have 

 been much improved by careful breeding. They are of medium 

 size, color invariably cherry red, not very heavy in the brisket, 



