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stock has received the attention of some of the most in- 

 telligent men of the community. The farmers of Ayr- 

 shire and Wigtonshire find in their immediate neighbor- 

 hood a market for fresh dairy products, and as there is no 

 profit in feeding cattle for beef alone in that region, they 

 have applied themselves to the work of obtaining the best 

 dairy cow that can be put together. This is the origin of 

 the breed of cattle called the Ayrshire. They are com- 

 paratively modern in their introduction into the list of 

 breeds, not having been mentioned at all by Parkinson 

 fifty years ago ; and being derived, as many assert, from 

 a mixture of Short-horn blood with the native blood of 

 the region. We know herds which have been forty years 

 at least in being brought to their present condition. 



These animals are the model of a dairy cow ; hardy, 

 well-shaped, of medium size, and giving an ample return 

 for the amount of food they consume, they are wonder- 

 fully adapted to our short pastures, and to our long, cold 

 winters. Without presenting any uncommon peculiarity, 

 excepting a remarkable symmetry, they would be selected 

 at once by one of our intelligent dairy-men as the pattern 

 of a cow suited to his purpose. They are very analogous 

 to our American trotting horse in all those points which 

 unite to make a superior animal. In their deep bodies, 

 strong and clean heads, well-set, fine, and at the same 

 time, muscular necks, sharp withers, sloping, prominent, 

 well-set shoulders, straight backs, broad hips, long quar- 

 ters, and fine but not too small bone ; in their size neither 

 small nor large, they possess all the points, as you will see, 

 of our best native horse, a resemblance which will be 

 found to a remarkable degree wherever you find a really 

 good cow. For the gratification of those who are exact in 



