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stock, that we feel sure the majestic Holsteins will find abroad field 

 and a warm welcome in New England Agriculture. 



Of the breeds which have .been introduced, but which are not 

 known to have made any appreciable mark on American stock, we 

 may enumerate the Swiss, imported by Mr. H. M. Clark, of Bel- 

 mont, in November 1869, a striking looking and probably useful 

 race of dairy cattle ; the Kerries which seem to possess many of 

 the good quahties of the Brittannies, but lack in symmetry and 

 uniformity of appearance ; and the Galloways, whose specialty 

 appears to be hardihood, and ability to produce excellent beef in 

 cold and exposed situations. 



With this brief glance at the distinctive characteristics of the 

 several breeds, we pass to the question, "Jn what respect are 

 thorough hred animals superior to natives and grades ?" Chiefly in 

 the ability to reproduce themselves when mated with animals of 

 their own breed, or to stamp their distinctive excellencies with pe- 

 culiar force on the robust constitutions but unsettled tendencies of 

 the mixed breeds. Indeed, an especial mission of the pure breeds 

 appears to be the production of buU calves ; and they often pur- 

 sue their vocation with a fidehty extremely disgusting to their 

 owners. 



The quahties of a good milch cow are patent and unmistakeable ; 

 and if such an one be coupled with a bull of a pure milking race, 

 her progeny will rarely disappoint the reasonable hojDes of the 

 breeder ; but if a grade bull be used, the progeny will like as not 

 resemble a scrub ancestor, raised because his mother could not fat- 

 ten him, and used because his services could be obtained at the 

 lowest possible rate. We once bought a handsome and excellent 

 grade cow with calf by a good looking giade boU ; and, allowing 

 for a little poetic exaggeration in the matter of the dewlap, 

 the produce was a literal copy of Virgil's portrait of a stock cow. 

 For breeding working cattle, says Virgil : " The best form is that 

 of the fierce looking cow, with coarse head, and thick neck, and 

 dewlaps hanging from her chin to her shins. Her side immoder- 

 ately long ; all her proportions are massive, even her foot, and her 

 shaggy ears under inbent horns. All the better if she be streaked 

 and spotted with white, or fractious, or ugly with her horns, and 

 more hke a buU in the face, and pretty hateful generally, and she 

 sweeps the ground with her tail as she steps along. 



Our heifer proved utterly worthless for milk, but some of the 

 neighbors thought she would breed splendid oxen. 



