CATTLE: UBfi/unr 



* THEIR HISTORY AND VARIOUS BREEDS. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



THE DAIRY. 



CHAPTER I. 



AMONG the various orders of mammalia, from which man has 

 reclaimed and domesticated certain species species, the 

 possession of which, in a state of subjection and dependence, 

 contribute essentially to his welfare that of the Ruminantia, 

 or ruminating animals, affords him the greatest number ; and 

 those not of the lowest importance. To this order belong 

 the camel, the llama and its allies, the different species of the 

 ox, the sheep, and the goat. Since the remotest periods of 

 history, the ox and the sheep have been regarded in the light 

 of property ; nor is their intrinsic value less appreciated after 

 a lapse of ages. Who does not know how intimately the 

 wellbeing of a nation is connected with its agrarian produce, 

 whether animal or vegetable ; and how closely the interests 

 of commerce and of agriculture are inter-blended together? 

 It has been said by some one, that he who makes two stalks 

 of corn grow where only one grew before, is a benefactor of 

 his country ; and by a parity of reasoning, he who improves 

 the breeds of domestic cattle, feeds two on the land which 

 before only supported one; and he who devises superior 

 modes of management with regard to the extension of their 

 utility, also serves the interests of the community. On topics 

 like these, however, we need not insist ; let us at once to our 

 subject. 



The Ox, then, is one among the ruminating order of quad- 

 rupeds. All the animals of this order have certain character- 

 istics in common, which distinctly mark the differences between 



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