ADDRESS OF MR. LORING. 



11 



furnish the two first human sinners with ^^ coats of 

 skins/' after their expulsion from Eden, into the chilling 

 influences of the outer world ; and we are told that the 

 second born on the face of the earth, occupied those 

 primeval hours, amid new and oriental luxurance, as a 

 ^•keeper of sheep." 



From that day to this, the production and care of 

 animals adapted to human wants has been one of the 

 most important branches of husbandry. We have no 

 means of judging of the quality of Abel's sheep, "of the 

 firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof." We only 

 learn of Jacob's herds that they were "ring-streaked 

 and speckled." And amidst all the elevation of Taurus 

 the Bull into the heavenly constellations, of Apis into 

 the catalogue of heathen deities, amidst the poetic 

 fancies which created the white bull of Europa, and 

 adorned the ancient gate-ways and arches with the guant 

 forms of stately oxen, and gave the name Boopis 

 (ox-eyed) to the fairest goddess, and filled the classic 

 song of Virgil with the voices of thronging cattle, and 

 gave to the English poet the subdued and quiet 

 picture, as 



'' The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea," 



and expressed the climax of luxuriant possession in " the 

 cattle upon a thousand hills," amidst all this we have 

 never yet learned what skill and practical experience 

 produced the foundation of such pleasing imagery, nor 

 what rural economies guided the earliest farmers in 

 their rearing of cattle. 



There is, it is true, an old French proverb — "no 

 cattle, no farming — few cattle, poor farming — many 

 cattle, good farming." And we learn that when Cato, 



