274 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



this rapid advancement, but breed is useless without food to 

 develop and mature it. 



CHAPTER XV. 



NEAT OR HORNED CATTLE. 



The value of our neat cattle -exceeds that of any other of 

 the domestic animals in the United States, and they are as 

 widely disseminated and more generally useful. Like the 

 sheep and all our domestic brutes, they have been so long 

 and so entirely subject to the control of man, that their ori- 

 ginal type is unknown. They have been allowed entire free- 

 dom from all human direction or restraint for hundreds of 

 years, on the boundless pampas of South America, California 

 and elsewhere ; but when permitted to resume that natural 

 condition, by which both plants and animals approximate in 

 character to their original head, they have scarcely deviated 

 in any respect from the domestic herds from which they are 

 descended. From this it maybe inferred, that our present 

 races do not differ in any of their essential features and cha- 

 racteristics from the original stock. 



VARIOUS DOMESTIC BREEDS. 



Cultivation, feed and climate, have much to do in deter- 

 mining the form, size and character of cattle. In Lithuania, 

 cattle attain an immense size, with but moderate pretensions 

 to general excellence, while the Irish Kerry and Scotch 

 Grampian cows but little exceed the largest sheep ; yet the 

 last are compact and well-made, and yield a good return for 

 the food consumed. Every country and almost every district 

 has its peculiar breeds, which by long association have 

 become adapted to the food and circumstances of its position, 

 and when found profitable, they should be exchanged for 



