PROF. ROBERTS' OBSERVATIONS. 19 



American customers. All other bull calves with scarce an exception are sold as 

 veal, bringing about one and one-half times as much as with us. In like manner the 

 heifer calves are sold except about twenty per cent, which are also selected with 

 care and raised on skim milk. The age of the cow is usually denoted by the 

 number of her calves, and in no case did I find a cow that had more than six 

 calves, usually only four or five. Their rule is to breed so that the cow's first 

 calf is dropped in the stable before the dam is two years old, in order that extra 

 care and attention may be given. There are other objects gained by this method; 

 for should the heifer fall below their high standard she goes to the butcher's 

 market before another wintering, and though she brought little profit to the 

 dairy, she will more than pay for her keeping at the block. 



"Here we find a three-fold method of selection. First, in the sire ; second, 

 in the young calf, judged largely by the milking qualities of the dam; and 

 lastly is applied the greatest of all tests, performance at pail; and not till she 

 answers this satisfactorily is she accorded a permanent place in the dairy. 



"The cows, no matter how good, are seldom kept till they become 'old 

 worn-out shells,' valueless for beef, and not fit to propagate their" kind, but are 



AEGIS, No. 69 H. H.-B. 



Milk record, 82 Ibs. 12 oz. in one day; 16,823 Ibs. 10 oz. in one year. Butter record, 18 Ibs. 2 oz. 



in one week. 



sold for beef while they are vigorous enough to put on flesh, profitable alike to 

 producer and consumer and of no mean quality. I ate it for three weeks and 

 the English beef for two, and while not so fat as the Shorthorn it was to my 

 taste superior. 



" My experience is not extended enough to justify me in saying they are the 

 best breed for us, all things considered ; but I believe them to 'be, and I hope 

 they will not lose any of their valuable qualities in our hands bj 7 injudicious 

 breeding and careless selection, or what is still worse and has been practiced 

 by us in nearly all other breeds, no selection at all." 



Within the last ten years, a degree of interest has been awakened in 

 several parts of the Netherlands, with a view to the formation of such an im- 

 proved breed. Two associations of breeders have been established, and a class 

 of superior cattle selected and registered as foundation stock. At the present 

 time (1884) this class numbers about four thousand animals, about equally 

 divided between the Netherlands and the Friesian Associations. In the be- 

 ginning neither association made any distinction in the colors, regarding all 

 as equally pure, and worthy of entering into the formation of the improved 

 breed. The Friesian Association has advanced to the classification of colors, 

 and to the breeding of the variegated black and white as a distinct and sep- 

 arate class. This class very largely predominates. At the present time, at 

 least nine-tenths of the registry of both herd books are of these black and 



