Report on the Agriculture of Sweden and Norway. 209 
succeed, as the breed was found to be generally subject, both in 
Sweden and Norway, to tubercular disease of the lungs. The 
•Government herds were therefore sold off. Nevertheless, Ayr- 
shires are still kept in most districts of Sweden ; for although 
ihey cannot long stand the climate, it does not appear that their 
crosses with other races inherit this susceptibility to any great 
extent. Gradually, however, the Ayrshire is being displaced 
hy the Shorthorn, the greater hardiness of which is now rarely 
contested. 
At the date of the last returns, the following numbers of 
foreign cattle were at the several Government stations : — • 
Shorthorns. 
Allgtiuer. 
" F^ellrace," or Crossed 
with Allgiiuer. 
Bulls. 
Cows. 
Bulls. 
Cows. 
Bulls. 
Cows. 
1 
2 
31 
Sabyliolm 
8 
3 
18 
Experimental Field,"! 
Stockholm . . . . / 
2 
3 
1 
10 
10 
Melderstein . . 
1 
10 
Total .. .. 
2 
39 
5 
21 
2 
30 
From this official return it appears that the Government has 
sold off all the English cattle, with the exception of the Short- 
horns at the Agricultural College, at Alnarp, near Lund, and at 
the farm of Sabyliolm, not far distant. The fact is, that the 
assistance of the Government is no longer needed in this matter, 
many English cattle being, when importation is not prohibited 
on account of cattle-plague, annually purchased through private 
channels, notwithstanding severe but doubtless necessary regula- 
tions, including three weeks' quarantine at the port, three months' 
isolation on the farm, and sundry inspections and certificates. 
Shorthorns were .first taken to Alnarp in 1862 ; and are now 
I jnet with all over the south of Sweden. The common Yorkshire 
t cattle are generally preferred to pedigree Shorthorns, as there 
is a prevailing idea that the use of the pure breed causes a 
( diminished production of milk. There can be no question that 
most of the fashionable strains of Shorthorn blood would not 
pay to keep as dairy cattle ; at the same time there is reason to 
believe that the almost universal dislike to pedigree bulls that 
VOL. XI. — S, S. P 
