1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
Eoach, Dace, and Fishes not “Game.” 
The abundance, heretofore, of the best class of 
game fishes, has tended to keep in the back ground, 
the more common and less valuable kiuds. While 
Brook Trout could be caught in any stream, in satis¬ 
factory quantities, fishermen looked with contempt 
upon “coarse fry” as Roach,Chub,and such despised 
fish. But there maybe too 
much of a good thing. 
One does not “ want al¬ 
ways partridge ” or daily 
italmon, and Connecticut 
farm laborers of the last 
century, are said to have 
stipulated in their hiring 
agreements that they 
should not be fed upon 
salmon more than twice a 
week. With something of 
the same feeling we have, 
ere now, gladly taken 
home a mess of Chub or 
Roach,as a welcome varia¬ 
tion upon the too frequent 
Speckled Trout; this be¬ 
ing in a part of the coun¬ 
try where Trout were 
very plentiful, and could 
be had for the throwing 
of a fly, or a live grasshopper. Fish is a whole¬ 
some food, and as everybody can not have the best 
kinds, which are now scarce and costly, the less 
esteemed sorts may be very acceptable. There are 
several fish of this kind ; despised and rejected 
by the fastidious angler, but welcome to others, 
and more than all, to the farmer’s boy who has a 
day oil for fishing and has no hope of taking Trout. 
These fishes are generally soft in flesh, and do 
not keep well, hence if in the markets at all, are in 
bad condition, while the same fish, eaten a short 
time after its capture, would prove very delicate 
and acceptable. Now that fish culture is making 
progress, not only by States, but more slowly, by 
private individuals, it has been found that only 
those can grow the more esteemed fish, such as 
Trout, who have the proper waters. Those who 
have pends sufficiently deep, can have Black Bass, 
but there are still others 
who have upon their 
places a stream not suited 
to either of these “game” 
fishes, and who are no 
more ashamed to grow 
fish “for the pot,” than 
they are to raise chickens 
for “broilors,” who can 
stock their waters with 
fishes that will supply 
most acceptable food. A 
beginning in the right di¬ 
rection has been made by 
the U. S. Fish Commis¬ 
sion, in the introduction 
of the European' Carp. 
This is said to inhabit 
parts of the Hudson, 
where it was introduced 
many years ago. The 
rapid growth of this fish, 
the great size it reaches, 
and the fact that it can 
be reared in very small 
bodies of water, make it 
probable that the Carp 
will become very popular 
in this country. A re¬ 
lated fish is the Euro¬ 
pean Roach, this, though 
much smaller, rarely exceeding five pounds in 
weight, is one of the common fishes of Eng¬ 
land and the continent. The engraving given above 
shows the form of this fish, which has several 
relatives in our own waters, and a trial only can de¬ 
termine whether this has any superiority for gen¬ 
eral culture over our own, and very closely related 
fishes, of the same genus or family,—the Oyprinidce , 
or Carp Family. The term Roach is applied, in this 
country, to several different fishes ; in New England, 
what is in other parts of the country “ Sun-fish ” 
or “Pumpkin-seed,” is generally called Roach ; its 
proper name is Bream, and it belongs to the Perch 
Family. Another fish, often called Roach, is the 
Roach Dace, which belongs to the same genus as 
the European Roach, and is a very handsome fish, 
reaching 14 inches in length. When our farmers 
the European ROACH ( Leuciscus lyMlus). 
find that they can get food from their waters as 
well as their fields, they will stock them with the 
best kinds their conditions will allow, knowing that 
it is not always the favorite “game” fish of the 
angler that will supply the most food for his table. 
Shorthorn Dairy Cows. 
Before Shorthorns were known as a race, or 
rather before they grew into notoriety as a breed, 
for they had a reputation as a race before any 
record of pedigrees were kept, they were known as 
the best milkers in existence. It was not their 
square, compact form, or their beef qualities, which 
most attracted the attention of one of the first, and 
the most renowned of Shorthorn breeders, Mr. 
Bates, but it was that the cow he named “Duchess” 
was at that time the best cow in the world for 
QUEEN VICTORIA’S SHORTHORN DAIRY COW, COLDCREAM 
milk and butter. From this cow have descended 
all the Duchesses in several diverging lines, but 
not one of her progeny has ever surpassed the old 
cow. When the first Shorthorn breeders began to 
pick up the cows from which they bred their herds, 
they found some that surpass any record we have 
at the present time. Bell, in his history of Short¬ 
horns (pages 20 and 21), mentions one coiv that 
gave 26i quarts at one milking ; another gave 191 
quarts; and another 18 quarts at a time, and 
produced 24 lbs. of butter in one week. Mr. 
Bates’ first “ Duchess ” gave 28 quarts per day and 
made 2 lbs. 10 oz. of butter from this milk. The 
first “Princess ” (formerly “Bright Eyes”), gave30 
quarts a day; and this is worth noticing, because 
the Princess family have beeu so bred as to retain 
their milking qualities, and to-day have the reputa¬ 
tion of being the best of 
the milking Shorthorns. 
With regard to the milking 
character of Shorthorns 
generally, one might well 
say, “ Oh ! what a falling- 
off is there! ” But in place 
of milk we have beef, and 
we may perhaps question 
if beef is not before milk. 
Yet there are milking 
Shorthorns, and as the at¬ 
tention of dairymen is 
called to the advantages 
of these excellent cattle 
for their purposes, we may 
look for a great improve¬ 
ment in this respect. We 
give a portrait of a Short¬ 
horn dairy cow which may 
be taken as a type of the 
breed. The cow belongs 
to perhaps the most noted dairy in the world, 
that of Queen Victoria ; noted not only for the ex¬ 
cellence of the cows, but also for the most perfect 
appointments and arrangements of the dairy. In this 
country we have some pure-bred herds of dairy cows. 
An excellent dairy herd, consisting of Princess 
stock, is kept by Hon. Harris Lewis, of Frankfort, 
N. Y., perhaps the best known dairyman in Amer¬ 
ica. But for the difficulty of getting a good pho¬ 
tograph in a rural village, we should have presented 
here a portrait of one of Mr. Lewis’ cows. This 
herd has been bred for milking, and the cows yield 
from 40 to 50 lbs. daily of milk, and 270 lbs. of but¬ 
ter in a year. While there are Jersey or Ayrshire 
herds that will surpass this yield of butter, yet the 
advantage of having large calves for the butcher, 
and fat cows when they have done milking, will, 
with many, outweigh the somewhat greater yield 
of the smaller cows. 
There are other good 
Shorthorn dairy herds in 
the country, all chiefly of 
Princess blood, and it is 
to be hoped that the good 
dairy qualities of this 
race will be still further 
fostered, until they again 
compare with their an¬ 
cestors of nearly 100 years 
ago. While for general 
use the pure-bred Short¬ 
horn may be too costly, 
the grade cow may serve 
an equally good purpose, 
if a pure-bred bull from 
a good milking herd is 
procured. The grade 
Shorthorn is at present a 
favorite dairy cow both 
for milk and butter; and 
it may serve a good pur¬ 
pose for those who keep 
grades, that one can call 
attention to a prominent 
and excellent pure-bred 
herd, from which bulls 
of good character could 
be procured. When we 
compare the Shorthorn 
with the wild cattle of England, or even with our 
wild Texan cattle, and notice the difference, which, 
beginning with the horns, extends through every 
“ point ” of the animal, we have a most striking 
illustration of the influence exercised by man over 
domestic animals. When to this we add the fact 
that in portions of the breed the milk production 
has been influenced in a remarkable degree, we 
both wonder at and respect the skill of the breeder- 
4th. 
