DUTCH CATTLE. 123 



the others have been melted down into that of the Saxons. 

 In the fifth century, the Saxons and Angles united with the 

 Jutes and Friesians, and migrated to England. (This is 

 Low's colonization.) Subsequently, the Holstein Saxons, who 

 dwelt to the north of the Elbe, were called by the name of 

 Normans ; while the name of Holstein is not mentioned in 

 history before eight hundred years after Christ. In 1128-64, 

 the Holstein province Uagrien was conquered and converted 

 to Christianity, and partly peopled with strange colonists 

 from Friesland, Holland and Westphalia. 



These are historical foots, agreeing with Low, and with what 

 the editor of the " Massachusetts Ploughman," of 28th Septem- 

 ber last, quotes from a letter written by you to the following 

 effect: "The first Dutch colony in Germany, then called by 

 the general name of Thuringia, dates back as far as the year 

 528. From 801 to 864, St. Anskar, primate of Bremen, 

 Hamburg, Holstein, etc., himself of Flemish birth, attracted 

 many of his countrymen to those northern regions. Charle- 

 magne, also, colonized Flemish peasants on the shores of the 

 Elbe. That stretch of teeming lowlands, east of Bremen to 

 the Baltic, wore a vastly diflferent face in those early days. 

 Marshy and uncultivated, the coast-edge of those parts stood 

 exposed to the tender mercies of the sea to such a degree 

 that even a slight breeze would suffice to cause immersion ; 

 while the inhabitants, through intestine wars, demoralized and 

 habituated to strife and broils, evinced but little aptitude for 

 the peaceful pursuits of husbandry. It was then that the 

 attention of German princes was drawn to Holland, where 

 similarly situated regions had been brought to a high state of 

 productiveness. The great tide of migration, however, did 

 not set in till the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, from which 

 period the origin of the fine grass-lands along the Elbe and 

 the Weser must be reckoned," etc. 



I beof to refer the reader to the further contents of this im- 

 portant article, as inserted in the "Ploughman," just men- 

 tioned,* and take the liberty of adding that Mr. Mueller has 

 therein strictly adhered to the historical truth. 



From these historical statements it already appears that, 

 with regard to its fitness as a grazing and cattle-breeding 



* Since published in full, in the U. S. Agricultural Report for April, 1873. 



