404 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



This was also a noted dairy county in England. The cheese of 

 Somersetshire is celebrated for its good and rich qualities. The 

 daij-y farmers sell off their cows at the age of twelve years. The 

 milk now begins to deteriorate and lessen in quantity. The ori- 

 ginal race of cattle in this county were the South Devons, but 

 they were early crossed on the old Short-horns and the Durham 

 stock, producing one of the best breeds of milkers. It is said 

 that the improved race are of a superior quality, andnearly equal 

 to the short -horns in the quantity of their milk. This county, 

 lying upon the Bristol Channel, supplied many cattle for the first 

 New England settlement. 



Dorsetshire Cattle. 



Dorsetshire, England, is bounded on the south by the English 

 Channel, west by Devonshire, north by Wiltshire and east by 

 Hampshire. The towns of Dorchester and Weymouth, in this 

 county, lie right opposite to the islands of Alderney and Jersey, 

 on the French coast, looking right over to Normandy and Brit- 

 tany. The original race of cattle in this county were said to have 

 been a race of South Devons, but crossed upon the Alderneysand 

 French cattle. The Durhams and Herefords were early brought 

 into this country. 



Dorsetshire has ever sent great quantities of butter to the Lon- 

 don market, as well as cheese made from skimmed milk. It is 

 one of the noted dairy counties in England. 



It is said that the long-horns of Wiltshire were formerly crossed 

 on the Dorsetshire cattle. This breed was early known and noted 

 for two qualities — good for the milk and for the stalls. INIany of 

 the early Puritans came in from Dorsetshire to New England j 

 (the Dorchester people were almost entirely from this county.) 

 The soil of this county was generally rich and fertile. The 

 climate was rather mild and congenial. Old Dorchester was 

 the capital of the county, while Portland was a seaport town of 

 notoriety, as well as the towns of Weymouth, Bridgeport and 

 Wareham. The people from Dorsetshire liberally supplied them- 

 selves with cattle when they came into New England. 



A modern writer declares that there is no breed of cows in 

 England superior to the French cows from Flanders, Normandy 

 and Brittany, for the quantity and quality of their milk, nor for 



