74 THE COW 



tion of any man or group of men. Our modem con- 

 tribution has been in the improvement of types 

 already established and in the keeping of exact 

 records of ancestry and production through the 

 various registry associations and herd-books. As 

 elsewhere in our agriculture, we have only builded 

 on the foundations laid by forgotten men. 



It has sometimes been held as a reproach to our 

 new world agriculture that we have originated 

 and developed very few distinctively American 

 breeds of domestic animals. This statement is not 

 true regarding swine, for our most popular breeds, 

 as Duroc-Jersey, Poland-China, Chester-White, 

 Cheshire, and others, are stirictly of American 

 origin. Also the light fast type of harness horse 

 is largely an American product. On the other 

 hand, all of our many breeds of sheep are old 

 European strains unless we assume that the fine- 

 wooled sheep, the Merino, has been so modified 

 under American conditions that it deserves to be 

 ranked as a native breed. Every breed of cattle, 

 with the exception of the .little known French- 

 Canadian and two or three very unimportant 

 polled types of older breeds, are of European 

 origin. 



As a matter of fact, the very many diverse fami- 

 lies of cattle in Europe represent not so much a 

 definite conscious effort to build up a strain ac- 

 cording to certain preconceived ideals and stand- 

 ards, but rather they stand for races that have 



