No. I. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



3 



ning iiiict night, trom iho posture to ihe Imni to be 

 inilkoJ, nnd nlUr tlinl opcrnliou nic driven ngnin to 

 tllo pnsuire."' 



Ill nililnion to these slntrmenls, I nm favored with 

 an nccmiu ol' the produce ot nn Ayrshire cow imported 

 and owned by George llnndall, of New Bedford, llie 

 letter to me i8 as follows, dated Sept. 9, 1811 : 



" My thorougb-hreil full-blooded Avrahiro cow 

 Swinley, was imported hy me from Scotland in IS;'.'). 

 She was six years old in May last. She cnlved on the 

 31si of last March. Shu was milked regularly three 

 days previous to dropping her calf; and hail diawn 

 from her in the time from 45 to :>Q quarts. Common- 

 cod setting her milk for butter on the Istday of April. 

 The calf was not allowed to touch n teat, was fed on 

 ' milk for nine days, and after that time on skim- 

 ined milk. In all April, the quantity made from her 



I was -13 lbs. 6 oz. The quantity in May was 42 lbs. -1 

 oz. In this month her milk decreased. Quantity in 

 June was 44 lbs. 7 oz. In July and Auirust, her 

 milk was not kept separate from that of other cows. 

 Weighed her milk [l\.r one day, H. C] on the 7tli of 

 April; it weighed 4S lbs. oz. On the 2d of Sep- 

 tember commenced weighiug her milk ; in four days 

 it has averaged 25 lbs. 8 oz. nnj has made in four 

 days just five lbs. of butter. My pasture through the 

 season h.i9 been very poor nnd short, owing to the dry 

 weather and having too much stock for the quantity 

 of pasture * From the time this cow was turned to 

 grass until this day, (!)th Sept.) she has hod by mea- 

 sure two quarts of Indian menl per day regularly." 



The Ayrshire bull belonging to the Society has 

 been kept in Berkshire, Hampshire, nnd Worcester 

 counties ; nnd a fair opportunity will soon be had of 

 testing the qualities of his stock. One of the best 

 farmers in Berkshire county, speaks to me of their 

 promising extremely well. In ray opinion, the only 

 certain test of the dairy properties of a cow is in the 

 milk pail and the churn. 



Of the Improved Dui ham Short Horn race, we have 

 undoubtedly had some of the best animals ever bro't 

 nto the country, both with high aristocratic pedigree, 

 and without pedigree, of uncertain and plebinn orTgin. 

 In some parts of the country, large expenditures have 

 been incurred in the importation of this stock; and 

 Admiral Coffin, of the British Navy, in grateful re- 

 membrance of the land of his nativity, presented to 

 the Massachusetts Society several fine animals of un- 

 doubted pedigree of the improved Durham short horn 

 race, which were some time kept for the improvement 

 of the bleed. In addition to these, we have had a 

 valuable bull imported by a merchant of Boston, un- 

 derstood to be the sire of Mr. Jaqnes's eream-pot 

 breed ; and the superior bull "Bolivar," imported by 

 John Hare Poivell, of Pennsylvania, from J. Whiia- 

 ker's stock in England, celebrated for its extraordina- 

 ry dairy properties. This bull was the finest animal 

 of the kind which I have ever seen. A full-blooded 

 short horn bull (Denton) was likewise imported into 

 Worcester county, whose progeny has been highly 

 esteemed. Several other animals of the same breed 

 have bei-n imported and kept in the State ; and their 

 blood has been considerably dili'used throughout the 

 country. 



In point of size according to their age, in respect to 

 Bymmoiry and perfection of form, these animals are in 

 my opinion not surpassed, indeed not equalled, by any 

 which have come under my observation. The Here- 

 fords are extremely beautiful ; in neatness and fine- 

 ness of form perhaps superior to the improved Short 

 Horns. The Dcvons likewise, though considerably 

 Bmaller in size, yield, in compactness of shape, in 

 quickness of movement and muscular strength, and in 

 softness of hair and beauty of coloring, to no other 

 race known among ue. They are the prevalent race 

 of our country ; and in nn extraordinary instance, 

 when I bad the singular pleasurcof seeing three hun- 

 dred yoke of these cattle — that is, all more or less of 

 this breed — in one team, in Connecticut, I could not 

 resist the conclusion that a finer team, of the same 

 number of cattle, could not be found in the whole 

 country. Yet I am ready to admit that I hnve seen 

 some lew yokes of oxen of mixed blood, of the Im- 

 proved Durham, as fine in appearance, and in reputa- 



Whcn such farmers .is Messrs. Pliinney .-iiirt Rand.-iU say 

 as docs ilie t'.iniier, " that his |j,isturcs nfforde.l hut a very 

 short hite 111' jirass, iinrt that these two best cows ran with 

 mr stock and had no other food than what they could 

 tliese dry pastures ;" and tlie latter, that his pasture, 

 whore he kept his Ayrshire cow, was poor and short and 

 overstocked, 1 cannot hut hops they had n few twinges oi 

 conscience for presenting such an evil exainple to their 

 brother fanners, who are looking to them as fuglemen. Thii 

 IS ceriainly not the w.ay tliey treat their other friends ; nor 

 ore they at alj suspected, from appear.ances, of sulijectin" 

 i to the aamc penance. The general treatment of 

 in l\ew England wouU not be an inapt subject of 



Iheinselv 

 the cows 

 presentment by i 



grand jury. 



tion as good animals fir worli, as any that I have mot 

 with ; nnd some individual animals of the Improved 

 Dim ham Short Horns, both pure nnd half blood, bulls, 

 oxen, and cows, when all points have been considered, 

 hnve surpn.sscd any thing which I have eecii. They 

 have approached ns nearly to what I imagine the per- 

 lection of form in this roce of animals ns is to bo looked 

 for. With good keeping, they come early to maturity, 

 and attain n huge weight. The butchers, however, 

 whom I have consulted, give it ns their opinion, that 

 they do not tallow so well, in proportion to their size, 

 ns our own smaller cattle. In my observation, no 

 animals degenerate sooner under neglect and poor 

 keeping ; nnd they require extrnordinnry iced nnd the 

 most careful nltcndtttice to keep up their character nnd 

 condition. 



The progeny of Bolivar, from some of our best na- 

 tive cows, ncsording to the testimony of a farmer who 

 probably has hnd many more of his stock than any 

 other man among us, have not proved remarkable for 

 milk or butter ; to use bis own expression, '• they are, 

 upon the whole, above mediocrity." The progeny of 

 Ccelehs has been quite various ; in some cases very 

 good, in others inferior. Mr. Jaqucs is of opinion 

 that the excellence of his cream-pot breed is principally 

 to be ascribed to a cross with Coilths, but on what 

 rational giounds it is dilTicult for me to discover. — 

 Their beautiful color is certainly derived from the 

 dam ; and as the distinguishing feature in this stock 

 is the richness of their milk, and this being precisely 

 the quality for which the dnin, the Haskins cow, was 

 distinguished above nil others, and it not njjpearing 

 that ony stock of Coelehs but when connected with this 

 cow has ever been remarkable for this quality, it would 

 not seem difiicult to determine on which side of the 

 house this excellence belonged. 



So much sensibility exists in reference to this sub- 

 ject, the dairy properties of the Improved Short Horns, 

 and so much of private interest and speculation is now 

 mingling itself in the judgments which are formed or 

 the opinions given in the case, that, if it is not diflr- 

 cult to speak with calmness and sobriety, it may be 

 unreasonable to expect to be beard with candor and 

 impartiality. My business is however with facts; and 

 having no prejudices of which I nm conscious to warp 

 my own views, I shall, as fairly as I can, state those 

 facts which have come generally within my own ob- 

 servation, and leave the conclusions to the honest 

 judgment of my renders. I have already touched on 

 this subject in my First and Second Reports, and the 

 render will not have a full view of the case, as intend- 

 ed here to be presented, without a reference to them. 

 As to what these cows are stoted to have done abroad, 



it would lead me too far to treat much of that here. 



When a bull will bring at a public sale one thousand 

 guineas, cows more than four hundred guineas each, 

 and heifer calves over one hundred guineas apiece, 

 we may infer tbot guineas nre more abundant than 

 with us. It would not be an unreasonable suspicion 

 that a fever of the same typo which prevailed to so 

 alarming a degree among us in 1835-6, &c.. and 

 known here ns the midticaulis fever, may have infused 

 itself into the veins of some of the bidders and com- 

 petitors on these occasions. 



It may be premised that a very large number of 

 these animals hnve been brought to this country, and 

 those of the highest character, boih as to pedigree and 

 attested merits, since persons of the greatest skill have 

 been commissioned to make the purchases, without 

 any restriction as to cost or expense of transportation. 

 As early as 1825 fifty-six of these animals, all of them 

 ofhighbb)od, had been exhibited at the cattle shows 

 in Pennsylvania, and before ond since thot time lorge 

 importations have been made into Maryland, New 

 York, Ohio, Connecticut, nnd Massachusetts.* I have 

 seen large numbers of these cattle, and have to regret 

 that I hnve not been able, after repeated private and 

 public solicitationa, to obtain inore exact and authentic 

 accounts of their products. From this backwardness 

 on the part t.f the owners and importers I think there 

 is reason to infer that some disappointment in respect 

 to their dairy properties has been experienced. My 

 belief is, that our expectations in this matter were too 

 highly excited ; and that qualities, for which some 

 extraordinary animals among them were remarkable, 

 I mean particularly the quality nnd yield of milk, were 

 erroneously deemed invariable characteristics of the 

 race. In a former report I quoted the opinion of a 

 distinguished Scotch farmer, Mr. ShirrelT, and the 

 authority of a private letter from a competent judge in 

 England. ShirrelT pronounces them, in an off-hand 

 way, "the worst milking breed in Britain" The 

 private letter stated " that this breed of stock has not 



been hold of late years in great estimation for milking. 

 Short Horns arc only calculated for ihe best and most 

 poweiful bind ; on poor soils they will do nothing." 

 To these I now add the remarks of Geo. W. Fenther- 

 stonbiiugb, in a letter to Mr. Powell, ol Pennsylvania. 

 Mr. Fenihoratouhaugh, from his acquaintance with 

 the farming interests both in this country nnd nbroad, 

 will be deemed a competent judge. He snys " the 

 property of being very deep milkers, therefore, is to 

 be coHsidercd accidental, radier than one which cna 

 he continued with any ccnninty in the breed. Take 

 one short horn with another, no breed is more valua- 

 ble for its milk, or keeps in better condition under the 

 same circumetancea ; or goes to beef at less expense ; 

 or fiuniahes more money ond manure* in a given 

 time. In order to keep u]i these great qualities, we 

 must remember that, in their native country, it is 

 considered indispensable to keep them o-xtremelywell, 

 and in a very difi'erent manner from the general cus- 

 tom prevailing here ; which is, in summer, to leave 

 cattle to help themselves to what they can find, even 

 in the most severe droughts ; and, in winter, to give 

 them a moderate quantity of bay nnd straw. In Eng- 

 land, where they nre less troubled with dry weather 

 than we are, they have always green crops nnd roots 

 to give them, and they give them in abuntiance. It is 

 there considered that the higher this sort of keep the 

 better the health ot the cow, the richer her milk, the 

 stronger her calf, nnd the greater the quantity and 

 value of her dung. If all this provident attention bo 

 necessary in that moist climate, it ia certain that the 

 breed will degenerate with us, if it is not kept in high 

 condition. Hot climates produce shallow milkers; 

 and where exceptions occur, they get poor very fast 

 when indifferendy kept, ond it becomes more expen- 

 sive to recover their condition than to keep it up. — 

 The wear and tear of condition in deep milkers ia very 

 great, and is only to be checked by abundance of suc- 

 culent food and roots ; or, when these are not to be 

 had, by occasional feeds of meal with their hay." 



These remarks are ao well founded and so much to 

 the purpose, that I have given them at large That 

 this highly improved race of animals ia of nil others 

 best suited to our climate, soil, mode of husbandry, 

 and general condition, is a question I shall now pass 

 over ; but on the subject of the milking or dairy prop- 

 erties, I will give the most exact returns of which I 

 have been able to avail myself, and shall aubjoin an 

 account of what we call native cowa, that anyone 

 may compare them at hia pleasure. 



It may be said that the native cowa to which I refer 

 are all select animals. I admit that they are remark- 

 able animals ; some of them very extraordinary ; but 

 in respect to the large majority ot them, I have met 

 with them accidentally ; and 1 can find in the Slate 

 hundreds and hundreds equal to them, if any justice 

 were done to their keeping. But the truth is, that in 

 general, nothing can be more negligent and mean than 

 the manner in which a large portion of onr cows are 

 kept. 



On the other hand, it will not be denied that the 

 Short Horns to which I refer, are selected and highly 

 fed auimale. It seems not a little remarkable among 

 the many hundreds which have been brought to and 

 produced in the country, if extraordinary dairy prop- 

 erties are the characteristic of the breed, as many of 

 their advocates maintain, and when there is such nn 

 extreme eagerness to establish this point, that more of 

 these distinguished examples should not have been 

 given to the public. 



Let us look, however, at the focts in the case, and 

 make up our judgment accordingly. In all matters 

 of inquiry or debate, or object should be truth, not tri- 

 umph. 



1. An improved Durham short horn cow (Belina,) 

 imported by John Hare Powell, ol Pennsylvania, pro- 

 duced in three days 8 lbs. and 13 oz. of butter, which 

 would be at the rate of 20J lbs. per week. The cow 

 was fed with slop of Indian meal, clover and orchard 

 grass. She has yielded repeatedly hy measurement, 

 and so far as can be ascertained by the bucket, twenty- 

 six quaits within twenty-four hours. One quart of 

 her cream produced one pound five ounces and one 

 quarter of an ounce of butter. In one case two min- 

 utes, in another case only three seconds, were required 

 to convert the cream into butter. 



The butter trial was certuinly a short one, and it is 

 to be regretted that it had not been longer continued. 



*One hundred and fifty of Improved Short Horns and grade 

 ;.ittie were exhibited at the Fair of the Aniericoo Institute 

 ;n New York, October, 1841. 



* Tills 'furniahingmore manure in a given time' is rather 

 an equivocal recommendation ! It has once happened to me 

 to know a case where the sale of the manure at a livery sta- 

 ble more tlian paid for the cost of the liny given to the horses; 

 and the litter was furnished gratuitously by the purchaser to 

 the siable-keeijer. 1 will save the reputation of the farmers 

 in this oase; the manure and litter were wanted fur a pai- 

 ticular use in the arts. This was certainly u novel and eco- 

 nomical application of horn-poKtr, 



