LLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



I should not have thought of pin-suing this talk but from what 

 these other men have said. Talk about ancient history! The origin of 

 the Short Horn cattle is lost in obscurity, yet it has the oldest and most 

 authentic history of any of the improved breeds. 



We have in the Princess Tribe a clear line back to the dam of Trifes 

 bred by Mr. Stephenson of Kelton, Ei gland, in 1739, and suggestive evi- 

 dence beyond that. She was but a fair sample of the local herds at that 

 date. 



By facts obtained from history wo are forced to the conviction that 

 really this cosmopolitan breed which adapts itself to # every climate and con- 

 dition so readily in successful amalgamation with the cattle of any country 

 it may invade, is but a relic of the herds of the Benedictine monks who 

 migrated to England in early times, being a gradually grown up conglomer- 

 ate of the beast from all breeds with which the pioneers of cultivation in 

 every guise became acquainted during the course of accumulated centuries. 



In ancient times the cow was kept for her work and milk, and the pro- 

 duction-of beef did not fully enter in the calculations of the agriculturalist. 



That impulse came with the incensed demand for animal food 

 among the manufacturing population so when England became the leading 

 manufacturing nation on the globe she also lead all other rations in the 

 production of beef ciattle. 



We shall scarcely be in danger of contradiction then when we say that 

 the Short Horn was the first brought into notice in England by its compound 

 cbaracter, its usefulness for any purpose rather than its supreme usefulness 

 for one purpose. 



Not alone its early maturity; not alone its extraordinary power of 

 improving other breeds, not alone its sometimes enormous yields directly 

 of milk or indirectly of butter, but it is the rare combination of these and 

 other properties, such as easy adaptability to change of climate, small con- 

 sumption of food in proportion to pre duct and a constitution strong and 

 hardy that gained for the Short Horn its- wide distribution over the British 

 Islands and subsequently commended it to the favorable notice of our stock 

 breeders. 



