44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



the continent of Europe and in England, and in the Spanish 

 West Indies, brought together without any regard to fixed prin- 

 ciples of breeding, but only from individual convenience, and 

 by accident. 



The earliest cattle imported into the Plymouth colony, and 

 undoubtedly the earliest introduced into New England, were 

 brought over in 1624. At the division of cattle which took 

 place in 1627, three years after, one or two are distinctly 

 described as black, or black and white, others as brindle, &g., 

 showing that there was no uniformity of color. Soon after this 

 date a large number of cattle were imported for the settlers at 

 Salem and vicinity ; and in 1631, '32 and '33, several importations 

 were made into New Hampshire by Capt. John Mason, who, 

 with Gorges, procured the patent of large tracts of land in the 

 vicinity of Piscataqua River, and immediately formed settle- 

 ments there. The object of Mason was to carry on the manu- 

 facture of potash, and for this purpose he employed the Danes; 

 and it was in his voyages to and from Denmark that he pro- 

 cured many Danish cattle and horses, which were subsequently 

 diffused over that whole region, and large numbers of which 

 were driven to the vicinity of Boston and sold. These facts are 

 authenticated by original documents and depositions now on 

 file in the office of the secretary of state of New Hampshire. 

 The Danish cattle are there described as large and coarse, of a 

 yellow color ; and it is supposed that they were procured by 

 Mason as being best capable of enduring the severity of the cli- 

 mate and the hardships to which they were to be subjected. 

 However this may have been, they very soon spread among the 

 colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, and have undoubtedly left 

 their marks on the stock of New England, which exist to some 

 extent, even to the present day, mixed in with an infinite multi- 

 tude of crosses with the Devons, the black cattle of Spain and 

 Wales, and the long-horn and the short-horn, most of which 

 were accidental, or due to local circumstances or individual con- 

 venience. Many of these New England cattle were of a very high 

 order of merit, but to what particular cross it is due it is impos- 

 sible to say. They make generally, hardy, strong and docile 

 oxen, easily broken to the yoke and quick to work, with a fair 

 tendency to fatten when well fed ; while the cows, though often 



