70 ENVIRONMENT. 



When a breed of cattle is introduced to a locality 

 to which it is a stranger, the first exertion of its 

 force is spent in seeking an adaptation to its new 

 environment. The result may be a retention of its 

 own traits, or it may be the loss in part or wholly 

 of certain characters and the acquirement of new 

 ones. 



Suppose the improved Short-horn to be placed upon 

 the plains of Texas and to be left quite to themselves. 

 If they survive the change, and you seek them after 

 the lapse of time, will it be the Short-horn, or even 

 the old Yorkshire, that you will find? Will you not 

 find more of horn and less of body, a greater length 

 of leg and a build for travel ? Will there not be 

 more speed and less fat ? Will not the type conform 

 to the conditions within which they are placed? 



The dairyman should consider these things. Yet 

 the artificial conditions to which his cattle are sub- 

 jected make the intention of nature less apparent. 

 The resisting force is greatest when art is the most 

 upheld, and nature, its power usurped, only slowly 

 and perhaps almost imperceptibly intrudes to thwart 

 her purposes. 



The Ayrshire cow, removed to England, is said not 

 to maintain her dairy qualities at the best ; there is 

 tendency to flesh. The American-bred Jersey shows 

 more horn, larger bone, and a less deer-like form 

 than the Jersey-born. Have we not seen the Short- 

 horn brought from England, cultivated here for a few 

 generations, and returned, an improvement over the 

 English-bred ? 



