126 



HISTOEY OF HEKEFOED CATTLE 



ciety by Admiral Coffin, and I have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that for the ordinary uses to 

 which cattle are applied to the northern section 

 of our country, 1 consider the stock of the 

 Hereford bull above alluded to, decidedly pref- 

 erable. 



"From 1830 to 1837 1 resided in the State 

 of Maine, and my business was the breeding of 

 various kinds of stock. I had never seen any 

 full bred improved Shorthorns which appeared 

 to possess sufficient hardiness of constitution to 

 adapt them to so rigorous a climate and the 



EMPEROR AT 2 YEARS (1867). 



(Bred by F. W. Stone, Guelph. Canada. First prize 



N. Y. S. F., 1S67.) 



hard labor of the yoke to which oxen are there 

 subjected. Accordingly, on commencing opera- 

 tions, I purchased of Hon. John Wells, of Bos- 

 ton, a bull of a cross between the Hereford and 

 the Improved Shorthorn, with a slight dash of 

 the Bakewell. This bull was the easiest animal 

 to fatten that I ever saw — and was of very per- 

 fect symmetry, vigorous and active, and very 

 heavy in proportion to the bone. His weight at 

 six yeaYs old, after having been wintered on 

 the coarsest fodder that the farm afforded, was 

 2,000 pounds. 



"With this bull I bred some selected cows of 

 various grades of different families, my object 

 being to manufacture and establish a breed bet- 

 ter adapted than any other, to the soil, climate 

 and purpose of the section of country for whieh 

 they were intended. 



"As my stock arrived at an age to have the 

 qualities tested, they gradually got into favor : 

 but as the passions of too many was for stock 

 of enormous size, and mine had been bred 

 wholly with regard to useful properties, I hacf 

 to wait until the superiority could be proved 

 before their merits were generally admitted. 1, 

 however, took several prizes on different descrip- 

 tions of cattle at cattle shows of the Kennebec 

 County Agricultural Society. On leaving 



Maine, I sold some of the best stock which I 

 had bred, to Mr. J. W. Haines, of Hallowell. I 

 am informed that it is now considered prefer- 

 able to any stock ever known in that section. 

 Mr. Haines carries several of the highest prizes 

 at the Kennebec shows; he took the first on 

 milch cows, with one which was bred by myself 

 — the first on bulls, and the first on heifers of 

 the same stock. 



"The recent importations of Herefords by 

 Messrs. Corning & Sotham, of your city, must, 

 by all accounts, be very valuable. A gentleman 

 from Boston, and a good judge of stock, lately 

 passed through here on his return from a tour 

 of the West. He had seen the Herefords above 

 spoken of, and also had seen the fine herd of 

 Durhams belonging to Mr. Sullivant, near 

 Columbus, Ohio, as well as much other fine 

 stock. He pronounced the Herefords superior 

 in fineness of bone and symmetry to anything 

 he had ever met with. 



"Cannot some of your distant readers be 

 gratified by a sight of some of these fine Here- 

 fords in the 'Cultivator'? The portrait of Mr. 

 Bement's bull, Dallimore, is certainly one of 

 the best figures I have ever seen. His death 

 must be a great public as well as individual 

 loss. 



"The remarks of Mr. A. B. Allen m the Oc- 

 tober number of the 'Cultivator" on the working 

 and fattening properties of the Herefords, I 

 have no doubt are correct ; neither have I anv 

 doubt that wherever strong constitutions are 

 required, and oxen are wanted for the yoke, the 

 Herefords will be preferred to the Iriiproved 

 Shorthorns, and perhaps to all other breeds. 



"Mr. Allen expresses some surprise that the 

 lately imported Herefords have wide loins, 

 and says the Herefords he had before seen were 

 narrow at these points. I cannot think the 

 Herefords are generally deficient in this par- 

 ticular. Youatt, in his work on cattle, pub- 

 lished under the direction of the British So- 

 ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 

 speaking of the preference given by the Duke 

 of Bedford to the Herefords, after repeated 

 trials with nearly all the other breeds in Eng- 

 land, after mentioning some objections to the 

 Herefords generally, ,says of the Duke's cattle: 

 'They retain all the length of quarter, and 

 much of the wideness and roundness of hip and 

 fullness of thigh, which have ever been es- 

 teemed the peculiar excellencies of the Here- 

 fords. A few of them might, in their fore-quar- 

 •ters, be mistaken for Devonshires, but with a 

 tjToadness of chine and weight behind, which 

 the Devons have rarely attained.' (Page 211.) 



"But in choosing the breed, the grand object 



