238 5 [Assembly 



This is the way the English began in the valley of the Teeswater 

 (Durham) as stated. The famous Oakes cow, Mr. Jaques' cream 

 pot breed, the Springfield cows, and a number of others individ- 

 ually cited, (American) as well as large farm daries in whole 

 sections of our country, are equal in the production of milk, 

 cheese and butter to any of the improved Durhams. Ours are 

 not known by those who made it their business to inquire and 

 ascertain the fact to have a drop or particle of any blood in their 

 veins but the best native blood of the country and neighborhood 

 where they were bred and reared — some of these of fine form 

 and others not. Indeed we know from unquestionable soui'ces, 

 and many farmers advanced in life, in almost every part of our 

 State, at this day w'ill tell of cows of the most ungainly appearance 

 in their dairies within the last sixty years ; some so devoid of 

 symmetry and proportion that they might almost be mistaken for 

 a different animal, big, uncouth heads, large bones and these 

 prominent, long irregular horns, hide thick and lumpy, hair long, 

 coarse and knotty^ hips projecting some inches above the body 

 and looking as if ready to burst through the skin, back bone the 

 same and knobby, legs long, lean and crooked, and a little thin 

 withal after passing the winter, so that altogether, in the signifi- 

 cant language of the barn yard, she might be pronounced an 

 " ugly, scrawney, mean looking critter.'''' After calving in the 

 spring and slopped a little she has been put in first rate pasture 

 in May or June, and "vvould yield for two or three months from 

 twenty-four to twenty-six quarts of good rich milk a day. No 

 indications of the milker except in her bag, teats and milk ves- 

 sels, and these not very striking until she reached the pasture 

 fields. 



Nearly or quite a century ago, traditionary records in families — 

 not to be doubted any more than the birth of a member of the 

 family, which is generally recorded in writing — of cows coming 

 forth from their herds, bred, reared, and well taken care of from 

 calves, handsome in form, producing from 27 to 30 quarts a day of 

 the richest milk. This has occurred in our own State, in Con- 

 necticut and otlier Eastern States, and no doubt in some States 

 south of us. This was before the improved Durham race was 

 knowm, even in England, and was considered extraordinary at 



