SECRETARY'S REPORT. 67 



did mucli to establish the remarkable dairy stock of the 

 Ayrshire country.* 



At the present time, this breed of cattle is valued chiefly for 

 their beef-producing faculties, especially in England, where they 

 are bred in the highest perfection, and among the most enter- 

 prising breeders in this country. There are among us some 

 families still, for which in their purity, the dairy properties of 

 the original breed are claimed — and in some instances justly. 

 But neither our climate nor the usage to which the dairy stock 

 of New England are subjected, such as short pastures in 

 summer and coarse feed in winter, is favorable to the develop- 

 ment of so large an animal. In some instances, where the blood 

 has long been engrafted upon a native and hardier breed, it 

 seems to have become acclimated, and " Durham cows," so 

 called, are really valuable, when of suitable size. Grade Short- 

 horn oxen too, when properly cared for, are valuable animals, 

 unless descended from a race whose mammoth proportions find 

 no " aid and comfort " on the short pastures too prevalent 

 among us. They are then as coarse and ill-favored as possible. 

 They require good feed and good farming, especially on their 

 first introduction, and before they have become planted for 

 generations on the soil. "When well-fed, and well-crossed, and 

 habituated, they are a valuable breed. It is an undoubted fact 

 that the grades easily adapt themselves to the spot on which 

 they are born, and that while the delicacy of the pure blood is 

 removed, the size and thrift of the hardier race upon which it 

 is graded, are much enhanced. 



The only breeds with which the Short-horns can properly be 

 compared are the Herefords and Devons. Herefords, on the 



* Mr. Sanford Howard, in a valuable and interesting Prize Essay, written 

 for the New York Agricultural Society, 1851, says : — 



" The most reasonable conclusion from all that has been written in regard 

 to the origin of the modern Ayrshires, taken in connection with the points 

 and characters of the animals themselves, is that they were produced by a 

 union of the blood of the Holstein or Teeswater Short-horns, and the Alderneys, 

 with the ancient stock of the district from which they take their name." Mr. 

 Howard is of opinion that the cross of the Ayrshire as thus produced, with the 

 West Highland, the origin of the celebrated Swinley family, has still further 

 improved the breed, in regard to useful properties, and has given it that hardi- 

 ness and strength of constitution for which they are now remarkable. 

 8* 



