CHAPTER XV. 



THE HOLSTEIN, OR DUTCH CATTLE. 



In a previous part of our work, we have mentioned this breed, 

 as being early introduced into America by the Dutch emigrants 

 at New York ; but not as cattle of superior distinctive charac- 

 ter, or "improvement," as a race, yet varying from the early 

 imported English cattle in some characteristics of color and 

 form. We know nothing of the early Dutch cattle, in particulars, 

 other than that they were considered valuable for milk, and 

 labor. 



There is a class, or breed of cattle, now existing in North 

 Holland, which have been greatly improved within the last 

 century. That is eminently a dairy country, and the cows of 

 the farmers and dairymen there, receive a care and attention 

 beyond any other domestic animal used in the agriculture of the 

 people. 



We get little account of these cattle from British authors, 

 except incidentally, and that of so vague a kind as to lead to no 

 accurate conclusions. In our history of the short-horns, we 

 have alluded to the probability that they were, at a very early 

 day, originally derived from the neighboring continent ; and they 

 may have descended from the same common ancestry to which 

 the present improved breed of Holstein, and Holland, trace 

 their lineage. Their forms, and general appearance, in all but 



