224 
27th report- bureau of animal industry. 
SCANDINAVIA. 
From the ancient Sagas we learn that there were two breeds of 
cattle in Scandinavia. One was a small white or white-spotted, 
hornless breed living among the mountains in north Sweden; the 
other was a large black breed similar to the cattle of Jutland and 
Denmark. At the entrance of the Goths there was another highly 
prized, large-horned breed, either red of yellow in color, which ap- 
pears to have been introduced by them. The Vikings were in the 
habit of taking their cattle with them on shipboard, and the Nor- 
wegian settlers in Iceland in 874 brought their cattle along with 
them (Malet, " Northern Antiquities "). Thorsin, the Icelander who 
founded a colony in Vinland, carried cattle with him. 
Sundbarg, referring to the cattle of Sweden, says : 
The history of the cattle in our country presents a good many vicissitudes. 
The law of Uppland, A. D. 1296, describes Swedish cattle as being small, horn- 
less, white or whitish gray, often with dark spots. The Alpine breed in north- 
ern Sweden is so still, a race we have every reason to consider as being the 
oldest in the country. 
In the sixteenth century King Gustav I imported breeds from Jut- 
land and Holland. Since then many importations, have been made 
from the lowlands. The famous Thelemarken breed of Southern 
Norway is a direct descendant of Bos frontosus. 
DENMARK. 
In Denmark there are principally two breeds, the black-and-white 
breed of Jutland, with an origin similar to that of the Holland 
cattle, and the Red Danish, a breed whose origin is about the same 
as the red breed in Schleswig. Both of these have graduallj^ evolved 
from the native breeds which have been in that vicinity since the 
dawn of history. ^lany of the English breeds, especially Shorthorns, 
have been introduced into Denmark, and, according to Rasmussen, 
have had an important influence in the development of Denmark 
from a grain-growing to a cattle country, not so much by the in- 
fusion of ncAv bloodj as by giving the farmers an ideal as to form 
and teaching them the importance of good feed and care in the 
rearing of cattle. 
FRANCE. 
The French eat much less beef than the English, and thus their 
breeds of cattle have been developed for the dairy and for draft pur- 
poses rather than for meat. The largest and most popular general- 
purpose breed is the Normandy, a descendant of Bos primigenius. 
There are several subbreeds — one of them, the Cotentine, has been 
bred mainly for milk, and another, the Augeronne, for beef. The 
