The Guernsey Breed 43 



"Ten years have elapsed since the attempt was first made by fixed 

 rules to improve the form and quality of the Jersey cow. A few 

 gentlemen, presided over by the then lieutenant-governor, Major- 

 General Thornton, selected two beautiful cows, with the best qual- 

 ities, as models. One of these was held to be perfect in her barrel 

 and fore-quarters, the other equally so in her hind-quarters. From 

 these two the following points were laid down to be the rule for 

 governing the judges in all the cattle shows of the Jersey Agricultural 

 Society." 



The scale of points referred to will be found in Chapter 

 III. 



A large part of Col. Le Couteur's report can be found in 

 Vol. I of the herd book of the American Jersey Cattle Club. 



The following letter, received from Col. Le Couteur in 

 response to enquiries by the American Jersey Cattle Club, will 

 also be of interest : 



"Belle Vue, Jersey, Sept. 14, 1869. 



"Dear Sir: — I fear that my absence from Jersey will render this 

 letter of no avail to you for the publication of your Jersey Herd 

 Biook, spoken of in your letter to me of the 30th of June, last. 



"I have only experience to add to anything I may have written 

 ixi my essay on the Jersey cow in the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England in 1844, which has reappeared in the Trans- 

 actions of the New York State Agricultural Society of 18S0. 



"Our farmers have not the singular variety of ideas as to the 

 appearance and character of our breed which you describe to prevail 

 among the members of your club. Our breed is believed to be a 

 local pure breed, its original milking and butyraceous qualities having 

 been improved, more than three-quarters of a century back, by care- 

 fully crossing in the line: in that view, then, without much regard to 

 beauty of form. Later, since the formation of our present society, 

 of which I was the first honorary secretary in 1834, great attention 

 has been constantly paid to combine beauty of form with butter- 

 producing habits. 



"The outline history of our breed is this: In the year 1789 the 

 Jersey cow was already considered so good, so superior to any then 

 known, I imagine, that an act of our local legislature (which for 

 such ends is quite independent of the British Parliament) was passed, 

 by which the importation into Jersey of cow, heifer, calf or bull was 

 prohibited, under the penalty of 200 livres, with the forfeiture of 

 boat and tackle, besides a fine of SO livres to be imposed on every 

 sailor on iDoard who did not inform of the attempt at importation. 

 Moreover, the animal was decreed to be immediately slaughtered, 

 and its flesh given to the poor. Later laws are equally stringent; 

 no foreign horned cattle are ever allowed to come to Jersey but 

 as butcher's meat. 



"Guernsey cattle are not deemed foreign, -but there are scarcely 

 ever a dozen of that breed in our island. They are of larger bone 

 and carcass, considered to be coarse, though famous milkers, re- 

 quiring much more food than the Jersey. Our judges at our cattle 

 shows have discarded both them and their progeny. 



"Those enterprising American farmers who have visited Jerse> 

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