474 [Assembly 



of the best breeds of England of that day. Since that period Eng- 

 land has improved her cattle much, and so have we. If she has 

 gone ahead of us in improvement, it has been owing to the g^-eat 

 pains she has taken in crossing her best breeds, distant and near, 

 witli each other, and the great care she has bestowed in keeping 

 them, such as feed, shelter, &c., &c. I maintain, though, that 

 whenever this has been done in our country, we are fully equal 

 to her. I will show this by statistics taken from the best English 

 and American authorities, especially as relates to cows in their 

 milking qualities. The average produce of tlie best dairies in 

 Great Britain is from six to eight quarts a day the season. If 

 butter and cheese are run upon Irom 150 to 212 pounds of the 

 former, and from 350 to 500 pounds of the latter. This differs 

 very little from the average of some ot the best dairies in our 

 country, so little as not to be worthy of notice. Cases occur in 

 both countries of a much larger produce, and here too the average 

 extra produce will be found nearly equal, with one exception, 

 the famons Cramp cow of Lewis, in Sussex county, England, that 

 went far ahead of. any thing known in the world before the pe- 

 riod in which she lived (1808) or since. The improved Durham 

 breed, which seems, with some, not only in England but here, to 

 claim pre-eminence over every other, commenced in the valley 

 of the Teeswater, Durham county, some years ago, by crossing 

 them with the smaller but more hardy Scotch breeds, which fat- 

 tened quick, gave less milk, but rich in quality, were easily kept 

 in good condition on the short, sweet, nutritious pastures of the 

 high grounds of Scotland. The unimproved Durhams, befoj-e this 

 improvement took place, were remarkable for nothing but the 

 quantity of their milk, not even of symmetry of form, poor feed- 

 ers, fatteners and workers, and of quite a delicate constitution, 

 could not stand hardships. This cross improved them wonder- 

 fully, and they soon became famous in the annals of stock hus- 

 bandry in Great Britain. 



The improved Durhams were soon carried further south in 

 England, and the Devons, the Alderney. and the Leicester, and 

 several of the best breeds here were crossed by them, wliicli im- 

 proved them still more and placed them on a still higher emi- 

 nence. Before this first Scotch cross, the best breeds of England 



