52 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



of the mechanic, the artisan, and others in their productive achieve- 

 ments, when less mental and laborious efforts are required from him 

 than any other calling to arrive at equally successful results. I am glad 

 to see the Department taking time by the forelock, and doing for the 

 farmer in its efforts to elevate the standard of our cattle, that which 

 density of population will force succeeding generations to do. 



Nearly all of our States have agricultural departments connected 

 with their State governments. If each State would hold a series of 

 fairs or exhibitions of all agricultural products, with liberal inducement 

 in the shape of premiums for the best native breeds, requiring the ex- 

 hibitor to give a full account of the father and mother of the cattle 

 they exhibit, the mean temperature of the country from which the cattle 

 came, the nature of the subsoil, food, and other things that would re- 

 quire a higher and more thorough knowledge on the part of the farmer 

 concerning his cattle, it would go far to elevate the standard of home 

 breeds. This is not speculative, it is a certainty, since the same system 

 works so well in Europe. 



I would recommend also to each of our State agricultural departments 

 to purchase, say one hundred of the best of our common mongrel cattle, 

 breed and care for them by the most approved methods, and try to solve 

 the problem of how long it requires, with care, to make a breed of cattle 

 pure. My reason for men tionin g so great a number to experiment with is 

 this : Out of one hundred cattle experiments could be made to develop 

 certain qualities, such as those that would give the highest quantity of 

 milk, like the Holsteius or Shorthorn ; and others that would give the 

 best quality of milk, like the Jersey ;. those that would give milk for a 

 certain quality of cheese, like the Fletchet, &c. The results of these 

 tests might be shown at a national or a permanent international exhibi- 

 tion, to be held in some central point, where all those who take an in- 

 terest could see the result and benefit by it. From this number of cattle 

 worthless cattle could be thinned outand the best retained to breed from. 



I inclose list of "Agricultural shows "* held in England the present 

 year. This does not include the different society shows, such as the 

 Shorthorn Society, the Jersey, the Carthorse, and hundreds of other 

 societies. We have two cattle to one in England, our population is 

 nearly double that oY England, and in intelligence and polish the Amer- 

 ican farmer is superior to the European, but in practical results he lags 

 far behind. 



THE AMERICAN CRAZE FOR ENGLISH CATTLE. 



The English farmer finds another inducement in having fine cattle 

 over those of our own country, and this is in u the American craze for 

 English cattle," as this extract from the Times will show: 



The American demand has given Hereford cattle at heightened position and better 

 prices, but the impetus has been nothing equal to that accorded to the Aberdeen Black 

 Polls. The extraordinary advanced prices realized for the more fashionable strains 

 of these last season are well known, and may appear likely enough to bo fully sus- 

 tained for some time to come. The dispersion of the Bridgend Polled herd on the 13th 

 of September affords sufficient evidence of this, when some of the Pride strains were 

 disposed of at marvelous figures. The Prides hold pretty much the same position 

 among the Black Polls as Duchesses do to Shorthorns, and at the Tillyfour sale in 

 1880 Mr. R. C. Auld, the owner of the Bridgend herd, was tempted to give 270 guineas 

 for a female of the tribe. At that time his investment was looked upon as almost as 

 great a piece of folly as Mr. Platt's purchase of the Hereford bull Horace in 1876 at 

 500 guineas, or Lord Fitzhardiuge's splendid bid of 4,500 guineas for Duke of Con- 



* List published immediately following this report. 



