380 THE OX. 



were chiefly imported from Holland, the Cows of which 

 country were the most celebrated of all others in the north 

 of Europe, for the abundance of their milk, and their uses 

 for the dairy. The earliest importations seem to have been 

 made to the country of the Humber, where the port of Hull 

 maintained a constant and extended intercourse with Ham- 

 burgh and the United Provinces. The Dutch Breed was 

 especially established in the district of Holderness, on the 

 north side of the estuary of the Humber, whence it extended 

 northward through the plains of Yorkshire ; and the cattle 

 of Holderness still retain the distinct traces of their Dutch 

 original, and were long regarded as the finest dairy cows of 

 England. Farther ta the north, in the fertile district of the 

 Tees, importations likewise took place of the cattle of the 

 opposite countries, sometimes from Holland, and sometimes, 

 by the way of Hamburgh, from Hoi stein, or other countries 

 of the Elbe. Sir William St Quintin of Scampston is said 

 to have procured bulls and cows from Holland, for the pur- 

 pose of breeding, previous to the middle of last century; and 

 at a later period, Mr Michael Dobinson, in the county of 

 Durham, visited Holland, for the purpose of selecting bulls 

 of the Dutch breed. Other persons had resorted, for their 

 breeding cattle, to Holstein, whence the finest of the Dutch 

 breeds had themselves been derived. Of the precise extent 

 of these early importations we are imperfectly informed ; but 

 that they exercised a great influence on the native stock, ap- 

 pears from this circumstance, that the breed formed by the 

 mixture became familiarly known as the Dutch or Holstein 

 Breed, under which names it extended northward through 

 Northumberland, and became naturalised in the south of 

 Scotland. It was also known as the Teeswater, or simply 

 the Short-horned, Breed. 



Improvers of the Teeswater Short-horns existed early in 

 the last century, both in Durham and the neighbouring parts 

 of Yorkshire. One of these, Mr Millbank of Barningham, 

 was early noted for the excellence of his stock, some records 



