There is no reason to doubt that this cow descended from one 

 of the early crosses which were quite common in Virginia prior to 

 the date mentioned, and there is reason to believe that her antecedents 

 were the buffalo of the Eastern type, they being quite numerous at 

 that time in that locality. The long hair that aj)peared on her fore- 

 quarters in winter, would indicate that on the domestic side, there 

 was a strain of the West Highland or Galloway blood, as these cattle 

 were the ones most frequently met with in the early settlements of 

 Virginia. 



Another early account that contains a lot of interesting matter 

 is found in the letter sent to Andubon by Robert Wickliffe, of Lex- 

 ington, Kentucky, dated ^November 6, 1843, in which he has quite 

 fully recorded the results of his efforts in domesticating the buffalo, 

 and the results ol)tained in crossing them with common cows. He 

 states that in 1813 he purchased one or two buffalo cows from a 

 man who brought them from the country called the ]Jpper Missouri. 

 He further states that on getting possession of the tame buffalo he 

 crossed them with his common cows, and found the buffalo bull was 

 willing to mate with common cows, but the domestic bull was always 

 shy of the buffalo cow. From one of the domestic cows he raised 

 a half-blooded heifer, putting her to a domestic bull and from this 

 union, obtained a heifer, which, as he states, in order that the ex- 

 periment might be perfect, put to a buffalo -bull and she brought me 

 a bull calf which I raised to be a very fine large animal, perhaps the 

 only one in the world of this blood, namely, a three-quarter, half- 

 quarter, and a half-quarter of the common blood. This seems to 

 have concluded his experiments which had been carried on for quite 

 a number of years, as after this he left them to propagate their breed 

 themselves. 



He has recorded many interesting facts obtained during the years 

 of his experimenting. He notes that the half-bloods were larger than 

 either the buffalo or common cow, and that the mixed breeds are of 

 various colors, having had them striped with black on a gray ground 

 like the zebra, some of them brindled red, some pure red with white 

 faces, and others red without any markings of white. He also says 

 that "my experiments have not satisfied me that the half-buffalo bull 

 will reproduce again, but the half-breed heifers will be productive 

 from either race, and I have been informed that at the first settle- 

 ment of the country, cows that were considered best for milking, were 

 from half-bloods down to the quarter and seven-eighths of buffalo 

 blood." 



As the milk of tlie Iniffalo cow, while small in quantity, is 

 extremely rich, it is evident tliat a strain of buffalo blood in the 

 domestic stock would greatly improve the quality of the milk ovei; 

 that of the common cow. 



Mr. James P. Swain of Bronxville, New York, who in 1868 

 made a number of experiments in crossing the buffalo with Jersey 

 cattle, records some interesting observations in regard to the milk of 

 his cross-breeds. These animals were much larger than the Jersey, 



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