THE AYRSHIRE 289 



Agricultural Association. In 1866, in a prize essay on county Ayr, 

 Archibald Sturrock writes that " a capacious and well-set udder 

 is certainly the chief point of excellence in the Ayrshire cow." 



The introduction of the Ayrshire to America probably first 

 occurred early in the last century, when Scotch settlers moved 

 to Canada. In the Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Agricultural 

 Society for 1824 considerable discussion is devoted to breeds 

 of cattle, yet the name Ayrshire is not used. John Hare Powell, 

 the secretary, who had studied the breeds in Europe, says, " I 

 have traced every importation of which I have heard," and makes 

 special reference to eight different states and various breeds, 

 but does not mention the Ayrshire. Sturtevant states that the 

 first importation into the United States is thought to have been 

 made in 1822 by H. W. Hills to Windsor, Connecticut. In 1837 

 the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture imported 

 one cow, which is reported to have yielded sixteen pounds of butter 

 a week for several weeks. Lewis F. Allen of New York writes 

 that in 1837 he visited the Ayrshire herd of John P. Cushing 

 near Boston, Massachusetts, who had imported from Ayrshire 

 regardless of price. In 1848 E. A. Brown introduced Ayrshires to 

 Ohio, these being the first of this dairy breed to enter the state. 



Characteristics of Ayrshires. Mature cattle of this breed 

 impress one as of medium dairy size, as large milk producers, and 

 yet with more of a beefy tendency than some other dairy breeds. 

 The color includes red, brown, and white. In 1875 Sturtevant 

 quoted as follows from a letter from Robert Wilson, a breeder 

 in Scotland: 



Colors of Ayrshires are much the same since 1 can remember ; different 

 breeders have their particular color. Light yellow, though common with 

 some breeders, is not the most common color. Red and white flecked, though 

 it should incline a little to yellowish or brown, is more a prevailing color of 

 the breed. . . . White, if there be not roan mixed with it, I do not con- 

 sider a proof of the presence of Shorthorn blood. Our favorite colors are 

 white flecked or red bodies and white legs. Dark reds and black muzzles 

 are favorites also. 



In 1875 Sturtevant published statistics of a color classification 

 of 2852 Ayrshires in the United States, of which 2014, or 70.61 

 per cent, were red and white ; 222, or 7.78 per cent, red or mostly 



