16 



ADDRESS OF MR. LOSING. 



is sucli a breed of cattle — Ibut wliat it is and wliere it 

 originated^ I have never found any investigator who 

 could inform me. The first cattle brought into New 

 England, were imported in the Charity, in the care of 

 Mr. Winslow, the Agent of the Plymouth Colony^ early 

 in the spring of 1623, To what breed they belonged 

 it is impossible to telL But as a large proportion of the 

 early immigrants were from Devonshire and the South 

 of England, where the Devon cattle were even then 

 popular, and where that breed had long been established^ 

 it is very probable that the earliest arrivals here were 

 strongly tinctured with this blood. It is not very pro- 

 bable that they were of pure blood, for the circumstances 

 of our ancestors did not admit of their entering very 

 largely into fancy stock. It is more likely that the 

 animals were purchased as advantageously as possible in 

 the section of country whence the travellers debarked. 

 The color of their descendents would indicate that they 

 were Devons more or less pure. 



There is every reason to suppose that the class of 

 animals to which I am referring, had their origin, as I 

 have suggested ; and that in the same manner a larger 

 sized and coarser animal was early found in New York, 

 and a smaller and less thrifty breed, analogous to the 

 Jerseys, were planted in the southern parts of Maryland;^ 

 and are found there to this day. 



Whatever may have been its origin, it has really no 

 characteristics left, which would recommend it to an 

 intelligent breeder. The "old red stock of New 

 England is acclimated it is true — so is the second gene- 

 ration of any imported Short-horn or Ayrshire or Jersey. 

 But the difficulty is that they are a series of accidents. 



