POLLED GRADE DURHAMS. 
199 
were bred under your own eye, or of equally ex¬ 
perienced professors of the art of breeding in all 
its branches , that some clandestine irregularity 
may have occurred to stamp the progeny with the 
deficiency in question.(«) I am aware that the 
Short Horns have a touch of the Polled breed ; but 
it is far back, and would have shown itself more 
generally than we find to be the case, if there 
were so strong a tendency in the cross to show it¬ 
self, as one might be led to believe from your as¬ 
sertions : at any rate, its occasionally happening 
must constitute an exception and not the rule ; you 
are not thereby justified in deciding, ex cathedra , 
upon bare inspection, that a Polled cow was three 
quarters Durham, of whose parentage nothing was 
known. You have not communicated to the pub¬ 
lic upon what grounds (other than the want 
of horns) you based your opinion; if you have 
any other we should be obliged to you if you will 
state them. (b) 
Besides, there is a well-known tendency in the 
Galloway with which Mr. Collins crossed his 
Short Horns, occasionally to produce diminutive 
horns; showing that the probabilities are alto¬ 
gether against any Polled animal being of three- 
quarter or any higher grade of Durham blood.(c) 
“ Put that cow in good condition,” you say, “ and 
to our eye she would be anything but a raw-boned 
animal” This sounds very much like admittance 
of the very error you reprobate, that of judging 
cattle not by their anatomy but their condition. 
Would she be less raw-boned if she were put into 
good condition ?(</) 
The mode of proof I should propose would be 
of a directly contrary nature, and the scraping the 
flesh off the bones would, I presume, be a better 
test of their fineness than putting flesh on. As 
you undoubtedly include your humble servant ( e) 
in the number of those who pronounce such “ very 
erroneous decisions upon stock at our agricultural 
shows,” and who think “ a lean beast must be 
raw-boned and coarse, and a fat one fine, with 
smooth bones,” you will pardon me for saying, that 
the error I have fallen into, if it should prove to 
be such, may have arisen from my unconsciously 
drawing a comparison in my own mind, between 
the frame of the cow Emma and those of certain 
grade Durhams in my own yard, without waiting 
until they were put into good condition.(/) 
Our relative correctness on this point may, how¬ 
ever, be put to a strict test by actual admeasurement 
of the highly valuable creature referred to, and 
then contrasting it with that of bona-fide Dur¬ 
hams, or cattle with avowedly fine. bone. 
When this point has been satisfactorily settled, 
it will then be time enough to look round for 
those “ cows of the ordinary Polled breed, with,” 
as you make me say, “ forms as good as Mr. 
Schenck’s cowuntil then we should hardly 
agree as to what were so. 
John W. Knevels. 
(a) Our authority on the point in question, was 
derived from. an English breeder of the high¬ 
est respectability, one who kept a regular record 
of his animals, whether grades or thorough breds, 
and we have no more doubt of the fact than if we 
had bred the one we had reference to ourselves, 
and all its ancestors. Nothing is more common in 
the Smithfield market, in London, than half to 
three fourths and seven eighths grade Durham 
bullocks, descended from the black Polled Scotch 
cow; and yet the color of these grades is more 
generally all black, and they are usually without 
horns, or merely show the smallest possible apol¬ 
ogy for horns, short stubs occasionally, hung loose¬ 
ly to the head by a stringy integument not much 
thicker than the skin. 
(b) Even allowing an “ exception,” we (that is, 
the writer of these remarks and the one who was 
with him, an English breeder of much experience) 
think our judgment quite as correct in supposing 
Mr. Schenck’s cow might come under this catego¬ 
ry, as Mr. Knevels, that she might not. We at 
least are tivo to one thus far in the matter, and ac¬ 
cording to the principles of the government under 
which we reside, our authority must be decisive. 
This last expression is badinage. But as it is a 
mere matter of opinion, in which either party may 
be right or wrong, we shall not argue the point. 
If Mr. K. will turn to our second vol., p. 270, he 
will find the “ grounds” upon which our “ opinions 
were based” expressed in full, viz., “ a good spread 
of hip ; long head ; low, deep brisket; handles 
well,” &c., &c., all marked characteristics of the 
thorough-bred Durham, which no other breed of 
cattle possesses in the same eminent degree. My 
own opinion, and that of my friend with me, were 
not expressed till after handling Emma pretty 
thoroughly, and scrutinizing her in every point, 
and talking the whole matter over minutely be¬ 
tween us, and this opinion the public can take for 
what it is worth and no more. 
(c) To all this we can say, that facts which we 
have not space to relate, are entirely against the 
“ probabilities.” 
(d) By “raw-bones” we understand Mr. K. to 
speak in the popular but erroneous acceptance of 
the terms, coarsc-bones. We will therefore take 
this correction, and say, that when the bones 
of an animal are thickly clothed with fat and 
flesh, they do appear relatively finer to the gen¬ 
eral eye than when “ raw,” or, in other words, 
when the animal is in poor condition. We en¬ 
deavor, now, in forming our judgment as to the 
coarseness or fineness of an animal’s bones, to di¬ 
vest them in our mind’s eye of all flesh, and re¬ 
gard them relatively in their nakedness. Under 
this phase we consider Mr. Schenck’s cow a me¬ 
dium animal as to fineness of bone. 
( e ) We regret that Mr. K. should suppose us per¬ 
sonal in our allusions ; we meant to be understood 
as speaking generally ; and if he will reperuse the 
passage, with its context, we think he will be con¬ 
vinced of this assertion. 
(/) If Mr. K. has better grade Durhams than 
Emma, we are happy to hear it, and shall want 
no other evidence in saying that his stock must be 
a choice one; and, to conclude, we shall be ready 
any time to lake a tape line in hand, and go on a 
measuring expedition with him. By so doing, 
we are certain that we should be placed in the 
way of hearing much shrewd observation, and 
acquiring some good lessons on the subject of 
stock breeding. 
