128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



then that of Holstein cattle would not be appropriate, and for 

 it should be substituted that of Friesian cattle, whence all the 

 varieties originated. 



The chief characteristics of this Friesian breed — its eminent 

 milk-giving and fattenijig qualities — we find in all the just- 

 mentioned districts, and extending still further southward; 

 with this difference, however, that wherever the land is more 

 fertile, the climate milder, and the tending, feeding and 

 breeding of the cattle observed with more care, in that 

 measure, and according as these requisites stand to each other 

 in the closest proportion and harmony, they are more devel- 

 oped, attain larger size and are of a tiner texture. 



If the intention 1)e to convey a correct understanding of the 

 true qualities of the several varieties or breeds mentioned in 

 their own dwelling-places, it is better that each breed should 

 retain the name by which it is known, and that no collective 

 name, though an historical one, should be given them. 



In order to be able to readily classify a group of cattle of 

 great extent, possessing the same chief qualities in form and 

 productiveness, Sturm* proposed, so long as fifty years ago, 

 to give to a group, subject to the same conditions of soil and 

 climate, a name indicating those conditions, and thus originated 

 the designations, Mountain Cattle, Highland Cattle and Low- 

 laud Cattle. He also heads each of these divisions by the breed 

 best representing the distinctive feature of its class, as its 

 type. It is under the denomination of Lowland Cattle that 

 he places the different breeds of cattle of the coast-lands 

 along the North Sea. Schmalz, Pabst and many subsequent 

 writers adopt this classification — some with a few modifica- 

 tions ; but all find in the physical characteristics of the coun- 

 try to which they are indigenous, the general denomination of 

 the collective group. According to Schmalz's statement, 

 cattle, adopting Sturm's classification, may be distinguished in 

 the following manner : — 



A. Loioland Race. — Primitive cow ; Dutch-Friesian cow. 



B. Mountain liace. — Degenerate, quite the contrary of A ; 

 Swiss cow. , 



* Dr. Sturm : of Races, Crossing and Improvement of Indigenous Domestic Ani- 

 mals Ell)erfeld, 1825. 



