AS A RACE STOCK. 15 



Flamande, or Belgium cow. In one of these reports the consul says, "The 

 breeds to which I allude present, in outward appearance and in results both for 

 dairy and for beef, cattle that cannot be surpassed in the world." 



The reports from France are confirmatory of those from Belgium. The 

 origin of the Flemish cattle, the pure Flamande breed and the sub-breeds that 

 have taken the names Boulonaise and Artesienne, are credited to importations 

 from the shore of the North Sea. "Whence," says one of the writers, "came the 

 breeds of Holland, Schleswig, Holsteiu and Jutland, all remarkable for their 

 milking qualities." Similar reports also come from Germany. The consul of 

 the province of Silesia selected four hundred of the largest herds of cattle in his 

 district, with the view of ascertaining the favorite breed ; two hundred and 

 seventy-two handled exclusively pure Dutch cattle, the balance was occupied by 

 a dozen or more of other breeds and their grades. The most interesting of all 

 was that from Consul General Stanton of St. Petersburg. He found on the fertile 

 lands at the river Dwina, within two and one half degrees of the Arctic circle, 

 an off-shoot of this race named after the locality, the Kolmogorian breed. It 

 was originally a cross between this breed and the native cattle of Archangel, 

 and dated from the time of Peter the Great. It is remarkable for its yield of 

 milk, and the fine quality of veal which it produces. 



It is the favorite breed of St. Petersburg, and it is used to improve other 

 Russian breeds. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Holland cattle 

 appeared to have been largely imported into the British Isles, and became most 

 influential in the formation of some of the most renowned breeds of England 

 and Scotland. Prof. Low, whose writings are regarded as eminent authority 

 on the British breeds, says: "The Dutch breed was especially established in 

 the district of Holderness, on the north side of the Humber, whence it extended 

 northward through the plains of Yorkshire, and the cattle of Holderness still 

 retain the distinct traces (in 1840) of their Dutch origin, and were long regarded 

 as the finest dairy cows of England. Further to the north in the first fertile dis- 

 trict of the Tees, importations likewise took place of the cattle of the opposite 

 countries, sometimes from Holland, from Holstein or the countries on the 

 Elbe." He adds: "Of the precise extent of these early importations we are 

 imperfectly informed, but that they exercised a great influence on the native 

 stock appears from this circumstance, that the breed formed by the mixture 

 became familiarly known as the Dutch or Holstein breed, under which name 

 it extended northward through Northumberland, arid became naturalized in 

 the south of Scotland. It was also known as the Tees water or Shorthorn breed," 

 from whence our modern improved Shorthorn breed originated. 



Sanford Howard, an equally eminent authority, in writing of the Ayrshire 

 breed, says. "It is nothing improbable that the chief nucleus of the improved 

 breed was the Dunlop stock so-called, which appears to have been possessed by 

 a distinguished family by the name of Dunlop, in the Cunningham district of 

 Ayrshire as early as 1780. This stock was derived at least in part from animals 

 imported from Holland." 



The attention of American breeders has never been called to Holstein- 

 Friesian cattle to any extent, until within the last twenty years. The fact of 

 our using a common language with our English cousins, and the assumption of 

 English breeders that they alone possessed breeds of cattle worthy of our atten- 

 tion, have been a bar to our study of the Continental breeds, one that even now 

 is difficult for many to break over. 



Yet it is inferred that a strain of these cattle was introduced into this 

 country at an early date from 1621 to 1664. The eastern part of the State of 

 New York was the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. During this period 

 many Holland farmers settled along the Hudson river and in the rich valley of 

 the Mohawk. .They probably brought cattle with them from their native land 

 and crossed them with cattle purchased from the other colony. One thing 

 there is a certainty, for many years after the cattle of the Mohawk valley 

 were called Dutch cattle and were especially esteemed for their milking 

 qualities. 



The first importation of which we have any knowledge was made more 

 than one hundred years later. It consisted of six cows and two bulls and was 

 sent in 1795 by the Holland Land Company, which then owned large tracts in 

 the State of New York, to their agent, Mr. John Lincklaen of Cazenovia. As 

 described by one of the early settlers of that village, "the cows were of the size 

 of oxen, their colors clear black and white in large patches; very handsome 



