390 CATTLE AND DAIRY I-'ARMING. 



This increase in tUo province of Hesse-Nassau by far exceeds the aver- 

 age increase in the Kingdom of Prussia, which, although almost twenty- 

 two times the size of said province, increased only 96,075, namely : 



Number of cattle in the Kingdom of Prussia : ^„„ ^_ , 



1-1873 ^■^•f^^'tiu 



In 1883 : 8,735,58y 



Showing the ahove increase of 96,075 



THE ORIGIN OP EUROPEAN OATTLE. 



The original ancestor of the European races of cattle is called, by 

 scientists who have investigated the subject. Boh primigenus, of which 

 original race vestiges can be followed up as far as the proofs for the 

 presence of human beings themselves go. At present this primitive 

 form of cattle is only found in the wild Park steer of Chillinghara, 

 Scotland, although the climate has considerably reduced his form. This 

 race, however, can only be considered as the wild typical form of Euro- 

 pean cattle, it having entirely disappeared from Europe, excepting the 

 reduced race of Scotland referred to. The two great groups of cattle 

 which have inherited the type of the Bos primigenus are ; 



(1) The lowland cattle of Northwestern and Western Europe, notably 

 in Holland', Freisland, on the Lower Elbe, in the plains of Dantzig, in 

 Flanders, in the Ardennes, in Picardy, Normandy, and Bretagne, and 

 in the eastern countries of England. (Shorthorns). 



(2) The steppe-cattle of Southeastern and Eastern, Western andNorth-i 

 ern Europe, the Eomanic race in Italy, the cattle of Scotland and Wales. 



Next to the race of Bos primigenus, and as a branch and modiflcatioii 

 thereof, the race called Bos frontosus was discovered, from which aro 

 descended the variegated cattle of Switzerland (iJerner, Simmenthaleif 

 Saanenthaler, and Freiburger), the similarly-typed races of the Tyrol 

 and Salzburg (Ziller thaler, Duxthaler, Pinzgauer, &c.), the Miesbachrf 

 type of Upper Bavaria; the Egerland and Voigtland cattle of Bohemia 

 and Saxony, and probably, also, the hornless cattle of England, Scotland, 

 and Norway, and the cattle of Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancashirc| 

 and Devonshire. Prom another branch of the original Bos primigenu^ 

 the Bos brachiceros, are descended the gray-brown and lighter or 

 darker gray cattle of Switzerland (Schwytzer, Graubindener, Mont* 

 foner, Obernimthaler, Murzthaler, Pusterwalder, and Allgauer) ; alsl 

 most of the types of the Pyrenees and the neighboring departments 

 (Landes, Gascogne, Garonne), as well as the dwarfed cow of Shetland, 

 Of course the many crossings between these original races and their de- 

 scendants have produced numerous intermediate breeds, notably in MiB- 

 dle and Southern Germany, in Austria, in Middle and fiastern Franc|, 

 and in England, which it is impossible now to trace with certainty f ; 

 either of the great original races mentioned. It will appear from til 

 foregoing statements that a description of the difl^rent types or races of 

 cattle of Middle Europe might be attempted, from various different 

 points of view, according to the predilection of the party describing 

 them. One might choose the geographical standpoint describing simply 

 the cattle now existing in the different countries or regions, without 

 reference to affinity "or descent; another would describe the groups aud 

 races of cattle, which, althouj,h not contiguous geographically, would 

 seem to him to have descended from the same original type, while still 

 another would make color the distinguishing feature of this classifica- 

 tion. But all these divisions are subject to certain objections, and it ifr 



