EDITOR’S IaSLE* 
Yet suppose we never had bred anything but pigs, 
Is this a subject to be sneered at ? We appeal particu¬ 
larly to the farmers in the great west on this matter, 
where, by the‘ recent discovery of extracting oil from 
lard, and the opening of the ports of Great Britain 
to their products, the raising of swine Will yet bring 
them untold wealth. Again, to the planters of the 
south, who, suffering under an unprecedented low price 
of their great staple product, with the characteristic 
energy of the American people, are manfully struggling 
in consequence of it to produce within themselves their 
own pork, and are seeking the best animals for this 
purpose* It strikes us that such a sneer comes from 
the Cultivator with a peculiar ill grace, when, had it 
not been for the particular solicitations of its pro¬ 
prietor, we should never have thought of appearing be¬ 
fore the public as we did on this subject; and whether 
our articles added anything to the interest of its col¬ 
umns, or the improvement of the animals in question, 
We shall leave to others to determine. It has always 
been bur motto, that a thing worth doing at all, was 
worth doing wdh 
We must confess our surprise, at the unworthy at¬ 
tempt of the Cultivator to revive the slight misunder¬ 
standings that existed on the part of a very few persons, 
in consequence of our saying “ there is but one man’s' 
herd there,” meaning England, “ that can improve our 
own,” and e< Ayrshire? we can make here by the thou¬ 
sand, by crossing Durham bulls on our best native 
milkers.” Since we returned to this city last December, 
we have been called upon and written to privately, by 
several of the persons who took umbrage at these,ex¬ 
pressions, acknowledging that they had misunderstood 
us—that they were in error, and wished the subject 
dropped in oblivion. We supposed, therefore, that 
anything further said on this subject was entirely un¬ 
necessary ; but now that the Cultivator has revived 
it, we shall briefly explain the whole matter. 
The junior editor and proprietor of the Cultivator 
solicited the communication of us on which it com¬ 
ments. It was written at Albany in great haste, when 
we were on our way from this city to Buffalo, and 
handed into his office with the request, that as we had 
not time to read it all over after writing, he would please 
do so, and make any little corrections required. He 
published it with avidity; and upon an inquiry, in a 
succeeding number, from a correspondent, as to one of 
the expressions in our communication, very justly ex¬ 
plained it;* now he takes an entirely different stand, 
and draws conclusions from our words, which he knew, 
not only as above, but by a subsequent communication 
from us in his own columns, were entirely unjust. 
No man of honor would ever pursue such a course. 
Had we solicited a communication, and then published, 
and thus explained it, we would have stood by and de¬ 
fended it to the very last, though the writer might after¬ 
ward become our worst enemy. We consider the con¬ 
duct of the proprietor of the Cultivator in this matter, 
as a total breach of faith; and is there a single corres¬ 
pondent on his list, that he may now be overwhelming 
with his flattery, whom, if he thought likely to cross 
his dollar-and-cent path, he would not instantly sacri¬ 
fice if he could. 
Before we knew that any one had taken the slightest 
* Here is the. explanation of the Cultivator, Vol. 8th, p. 188. 
Perhaps, however, Mr. Allen did not intend to assert that the cross 
proposed by him would give positive Ayrshires, but only a breed pos¬ 
sessing all their essential and most valuable qualities. We have 
ourselves little doubt, since the evidence meets us at every turn 
wherever the improved Short Horns have been introduced, thai, 
the cross proposed by Mr. Allen, of Short Horn bulls with the best 
native cows, would give a breed possessing in a great degree the 
qualities of good milkers, hardihood in keeping, and aptitude to 
fatten, although it might be improper to term them Ayrshires.” 
22 1 
exception to our remarks about Ayrshires, We gave an 
opinion regarding them more at length in a communi¬ 
cation written very soon after that which appeared in 
the Cultivator, and addressed to the President of the 
Kentucky State Agricultural Society, upon befog elected 
an honorary member thereof; the Secretary saying to 
us at the same time, that When the party was present, 
as we then were in Kentucky, something of the kind 
was expected. Here is what we refer to : e£ To those 
who wish for something like an Ayrshire already ac¬ 
climated to our country, I recommend to purchase snug 
Short Horn bulls of a medium size, bred from milking 
families, and cross them on the: best milkers at their 
hand, and from these make the most approved selec¬ 
tions, and thus continue on,” &c. 
It is generally conceded by all good authorities in- 
Scotland, that the Ayrshires were made there precisely 
as-we assert that u something like them” can be pro¬ 
duced in this cbuntry; that is, by a cross cf the Dur¬ 
ham bull, upon the native cows of that district. We 
do not say that the Cultivator asserts it, but we might 
infer with perfect justice, that it thinks American 
breeders can not do this in our own country with the 
same success that the Ayrshire breeders have in Scot¬ 
land, viz., make a deep-milking breed of cows- here, by 
crossing Durham bulls, from a milking family, on our 
best native milkers. If we can not, pray what are 
our Durham bulls and native cows good for ? Are we 
to be kept in leading strings'to the foreign breeder for 
ever ? Some of the best milkers which we have ever 
seen in this country were thus made. 
Count de Gourcy, in his Agricultural Tour in Great 
Britain, states, that Mr. Smith of Deanstone, one of 
the most eminent farmers and breeders in Scotland, has 
crossed his Ayrshire cows with Durham bulls, and that 
this cross-breed proves better milkers than their dams 
—the pure Ayrshires. Several Scotch gentlemen, whom 
we met in England, gave us the same information. No 
one thinks higher of the Ayrshires than we do; and 
we are ready to give them every iota of credit which 
is their due ; and all we wish is, that every breeder of 
them in this country could see these remarks. In jus¬ 
tice to ns, we think the Cultivator is bound to copy 
them word for word, that its readers may know exactly 
what we mean. 
When we 'asserted that there was but one man’s herd 
in England that could improve our own, instead of a 
detraction, as the Cultivator would make it out, we 
meant the expression as the highest possible compli¬ 
ment which we could pay to the fine animals already 
imported and bred here ; for we immediately added 
(see Cultivator, Vol. VIII., p. 180), “ and throwing 
two or three stocks out there, New York, Ohio, and 
Kentucky, alone, might show successfully against all 
England.” In the name of common sense, who could 
ask for higher praise of their stock than these ex¬ 
pressions convey ? That f e one man’s herd” alluded 
to, was the Duchess tribe of Mr. Bates of Kirkleaving- 
ton. From every other strain of Short-Horn blood, of 
any value in England, we had been importing the very 
best for twenty-five years. Nothing yet of this pure 
blood had been sent out to America, and hence the ne¬ 
cessity, if further importations were to be made, that 
they should be from something as distinct as possible, 
of the same breed, for a fresh cross. The superior 
merits and the antiquity of this Duchess blood, few in 
England are disposed to, deny. 
To show our faith in our assertions, we make the 
following proposition to the Cultivator. Setting aside 
Mr. Bates’s blood, wherever it may be found in Eng¬ 
land, and the “ two or three” other stocks we had in 
view, for every animal that its editors will import, supe- 
