20 



five years before the first volume of the Eoglisli Shorthorn Herd 

 Book was published, and that I admired her because she was worthy 

 to found a breed, and not simply because she belonged to one. As 

 some of my readers may not have heard, or may not remember her 

 character and history, I will quote from a letter written by Mr. 

 Bates to the New Farmers' Journal in November, 1842 ; he says : 



"I selected this (the "Duchess") tribe of Shorthorns as supe- 

 rior to all other cattle, not onl}' as small consumers, but as great 

 growers and quick grazers, with the finest quality of beef. My first 

 ' Duchess ' calved at Holton Castle, June 7, 1807. She was kept on 

 grass only, in a pasture with nineteen other cows, and made in but- 

 ter and milk, for some months, above two guineas per week." This 

 quotation is copied from the History of Shorthorns, by Lewis F. 

 Allen, and the editor goes on to say, " Not knowing the prices of 

 either milk by the 'gallon or butter by the pound, at that time, a 

 statement of the quantity of each which the cow made would be more 

 satisfactory to readers of the present day." This is a self evident 

 proposition, and turning to the History of Improved Shorthorn 

 Cattle by Thomas Bell, published just before Mr. Allen's book, we 

 find the following interesting and exhaustive explanation. Mr. Bell 

 says: "Mr. Wastell had a cow called Barforth that gave eighteen 

 quarts of milk at each meal, and made sixteen pounds of butter per 

 week of twenty-four ounces to the pound. Mr. .-Bates never had a 

 cow that gave, to his knowledge, more than fourteen quarts to a 

 meal. His first ' Duchess by Daisy bull ' gave that quantity, and 

 each quart when set up and churned separately gave one and a half 

 ounces, or twenty-one ounces per meal. The butter was made up for 

 Newcastle Market in half pounds of ten and a half ounces each, and 

 was sold at one shilling per half pound. The milk after being 

 creamed was sold to the laborers at a penny per quart, which makes 

 at twenty-eight quarts per day, 16s. 4d. per week, and takiug off 2s. 

 for the diminution of the cream, and fourteen pounds of butter per 

 week at 2s. per pound, making 28s. this, added to the old milk value, 

 makes better than two guineas per week." Translated into plain 

 United States, this means that she gave 28 beer quarts of milk a day, 

 from which was made 294 ounces, or eighteen pounds six ounces of 

 butter per week. This butter was sold for $6.72 and the skim milk 

 for $3.44, making together, $10.16 per week. Mr. Bell goes on to 

 say, " This she did for some time in the summer, having calved the 

 7th of June, 1807. She pastured with other nineteen cows, and was 



