lia AMERICAN CATTLi:. 



"Mr. Robertson, in his 'Rural Recollections,' says: 'Who 

 introduced the present breed is not very precisely ascertained, 

 but the late Colonel FuUarton, whose account of ' The Husbandry 

 of Ayrshire,' which was published in 1793, and whose authority 

 is of considerable weight in everything relating to it, states, 

 tliat a gentleman of long experience, Mr. Bruce Campbell, 

 asserts that this breed was introduced by the late Earl of 

 Iklarchmont.' The Earl of Marchmont, alluded to, must have 

 been that Alexander Hume Campbell, who married Margaret 

 Campbell, heiress of Assnoch, in the same parish, and who 

 became Earl of Marchmont in 1724, and died in 1740. The 

 introduction then, of this dairy stock, must have happened be- 

 tween these two dates, and so far corresponds with the tradition- 

 ary account. 



" Mr. Robertson goes on to say : ' From what particular part 

 of the country they came, there appears no evidence. My own 

 conjecture is, that they are either of the Holderness breed, or 

 derived from it; judging from the varied color, or, from some- 

 what better evidence, the small head and slender neck, in which 

 they bear a striking resemblance to them.'* 



" These cattle, from which, by crosses with the native breed, 

 the present improved Ayrshire arose, were first introduced on 



" * Some breeders, however, have maintainccl that they were produced from the 

 native cow, crossed by the Alderney bull. It requires but one moment's inspection 

 of the animals, to convince us that this supposition is altogether erroneous. 



"In Rawlin'a 'Complete Cow-doctor,' published at Glasgow, in 1794, the follow- 

 ing account is given of the Ayrshire cattle at that time : ' They have auotlier breed 

 called the Dunlop cows, which are allowed to be the best race for yielding milk in 

 Great Britain or Ireland, not only for large quantities, but also for richness in 

 quality. It is said to be a mixture, by bulls brought from the Island of Alderney, 

 with their own cows. These are of a small size. These are allowed to yield more 

 milk daily than trom any other kind of cattle, when a just comparison is made of 

 their size and pastnre. They are much leaner and thinner than any other of the 

 Scotch or English breeds, when in the best grass. They are not deemed u race of 

 hiindsome cattle, but rather the contrary, being shaped more Uke the (common) Dutch 

 breed tlian any of the natives of Scotland. Their horns are small, and stand remark- 

 ably awkward ; their color is genernlly pied, or of a sandy red, varjlng in this from 

 all other rnces.' " 



