93 



Jacjues, Avho Avas avcII acquainted with tliem, believed to be of the 

 Suffolk breed. They were kept in Chelsea, and some of the de- 

 scendants of the herd are now in the possession of Benja. Shurt- 

 leff, Esq. of North Chelsea, A cow was also brought to this 

 country from Ireland, several years since, in the ship Jamestown, 

 and hence was called " the Jamestown Cow," which closely resem- 

 bles the Suffolks I have seen in England. A bull from this cow 

 by a Jersey bull has been kept in Dedham several years, and has 

 left a progeny which in general appear to possess superior dairy 

 properties. 



The Kerry Breed belongs to the county of that name in Ire- 

 land, or more especially to the mountainous portion of that coun- 

 ty, where they have probably existed coeval Avith the present race 

 of human inhabitants. They are very different from the cattle 

 Avhich occupy the lower and more fertile sections of the island — 

 the latter, as has already been observed, belonging to the Long- 

 horn tribe, of large size, the horns drooping, sometimes crossing 

 each other beneath the lower jaw. The Kerries, on the other 

 hand, are small, with horns of medium length, rising, and general- 

 ly somewhat spreading. The color ranges from black to brindled 

 and red, sometimes with a little white, but black is the prevailing 

 color, and is preferred as denoting the nearest affinity Avith the 

 original type. The Kerry coav has ahA'ays been considered re- 

 markable as a milker. Youatt says she is " emphatically the poor 

 mairs COAV ; hardy, living everyAvhere, yielding for her size abun- 

 dance of milk of good quality." Milburn says, " she is a treasure 

 to the cottage farmer — so hardy that she Avill live where other 

 cattle starve. She is a perfect machine for converting the coarsest 

 cattle-food into rich and nutritious milk and butter." 



In 1858, and also in 1859, I visited the native country of the 

 Kerry cattle, chiefly for the purpose of learning their character- 

 istics and purchasing some to send to America. I found the 

 cattle somcAvhat smaller than I had supposed them to be, but evi- 

 dently very useful in that locality — living where no other dairy 

 cattle that I have ever seen could live. In several instances they 

 Avere met with at elevations of fifteen hundred to tAvo thousand 

 feet above the sea, sharing Avith the goat the Avild herbage of the 

 mountain's side. As ilhistrating their hardiness, the folloAving 

 incident is given : A man led me up a mountain glen to see a lot 

 of three-year-old heifers he had grazing there. It appeared a 

 mystery to me how the cattle could get round and over the rough 

 rocks, and obtain a subsistence, even in summer. Having noticed 

 that the man had several stacks of hay down in the valley, Avhcre 

 Avas the rude habitation Avliich he called his home, I asked him if 

 he Avas going to take the Kerry cattle there for the winter. He 

 replied, " No, the hay is for the lowland cattle and ponies." He 



