Cattle. 345 
best. This I consider one of their best qualities. Another good 
quality they have, the progeny are as good as the parents in all 
cases. Our heifers have proved as good for milk as their mothers, 
and this has also been the case with those which Mr. Gushing 
has given near home. I know at least twenty of them, that last 
season fully developed their milking qualities; and the owners 
all say that they are the best cows they have ever owned; many 
of them have milk farms, with large stocks of cows. We all 
know this is far from the case with the native stock, for usually 
the best milking cows produce very inferior milking daughters." 
" After taking all things into consideration," continues Mr. H., 
" I have come to this positive conclusion, that the Ayrshire stock, 
for milkers, are superior to natives: 
" 1st. In all cases of fair trial between natives and Ayrshire 
stock, as to quantity and quality of milk for making butter, that 
has come under my observation, the Ayrshire has proved the best. 
" 2d. The Ayrshire are more docile and much less apt to be 
unruly, in regard to fence breaking. 
" 3d. The Ayrshires are equally hardy and healthy, and will 
give more milk on short feed than the natives. 
" 4th. The Ayrshires are decidedly the handsomest animals, 
and most pleasing to the eye. 
" 5th. In breeding from the Ayrshires you can depend upon 
the young stock. I have found them in all cases equal to their 
parents; I mean the heifers." 
In 1837, Mr. R. D. Shepherd, of Baltimore, imported some 
Ayrshire cattle, and the following is the account given of them, 
when first imported, by the editor of the American Farmer: 
" We were first usherd into the apartment in which Mr. Shep- 
herd's Ayrshires were stalled. On the north range stood two 3 
year olds, w^ho had but a few days previous given birth to their 
first calves; and although from our acquaintance with the history 
of their breed — although we knew they were the pride and boast 
of the place of their nativity — candor obliges us to declare that 
they far more than realized our most sanguine expectations of 
their peculiar excellence. England is justly proud of her Dur- 
hams, Devons, and her Herefords; and Scotland, with an am- 
bition equally well placed, reposes her claim to preeminence in 
her Ayrshires. Cows, it is well known, do not attain the height 
of their capacity for secreting milk, until they have borne their 
third calf Here were two 3 year olds, with their first cal\!(p, 
with iraders possessing a volume so potent as to create a suspicion 
of their age, if the ring around their horns and the certificate of 
pedigree had not settled the point. That we were surprised 
is natural ; for although we have, in our day, seen many, very 
