AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 423 



The farmers of New England have much neglected the breed- 

 ing of stock. They do not seem to realize that they have tlie best 

 stock in the world to improve on. It took all the best people out 

 of the four kingdoms of the mother country to produce the insti- 

 tutions of New England. The cattle came along with the first 

 settlers, and the cattle were the best that the old world allbrded. 

 Whilst the lumbering business lasted in New Hampshire, the 

 breeding of large cattle was much attended to. Calves were 

 allowed to run with tlie cows and suck at pleasure. Men were 

 ambitious to be distinguished by the size and strength of their 

 oxen. Eets were frequently made upon the exertion of their 

 strength. The prize was contended for as earnestly as tlie lau- 

 rels at the Olympic games. As husbandry has gained ground, 

 less attention is paid to the strength and more to the fatness of 

 cattle for the market. (See 3d Vol. of Belknap's New Hamp- 

 shire, page 105.) 



After the battle of Bunker Hill, in 1775, seventy-five patriots 

 at Farmington, Connecticut, started for Boston, 110 miles distant. 

 They took an ox team and cart loaded with salt provisions, peas, 

 bread, camp utensils, with a puncheon of rum to cheer on their 

 soldiers and to wash their sore feet. They came to Roxbury in 

 nine to ten days — the oxen stood travel better than the men. 



In 1778, the inhabitants of Durham, in Connecticut, sent to 

 General Washington, at Valley Forge, two oxen, driven almost 

 500 miles through the country, greatly exhausted of its forage. 

 These cattle furnished a dinner for the officers and soldiers of 

 the American army. One of tliem, a steer, five years old, 

 weighed, when slaughtered, 2,270 lbs. 



The Welsh cattle seem to have been very much crossed out in 

 New^-England. The Reverend Mr. Buckley, of the town of 

 Colchester, Connecticut, presided over the chm-ch of that town 

 1703 to 1731. A church in a neighboring town was much 

 afflicted by dissensions; they applied to parson Buckley for 

 advice; he wrote them an affectionate letter, told them to heal 

 all their dissensions, and live in peace; but while the parson vras 

 writing the letter to the church he found he had to write one 

 also to his tenant, who occupied one of his farms in anotlier part 



