AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
44 
ind adopt them as 
our several wants 
may determine. 
Although we may 
not obtain them 
in sucli numbers, 
nor so cheaply as 
to stock our farms 
with those of pure 
need, yet having 
i lie common stock 
i t the country as 
a basis, we can 
o-uain the better 
breeds in sufficient 
numbers to rapid¬ 
ly improve the old 
stock, and in the 
course of a few 
generations, to 
completely reno¬ 
vate and revolu- 
t i o n'z e the 
wretched unprof¬ 
itable brutes over 
which we now 
spend our time, 
ana waste our sub¬ 
stance. It is ol 
no use to argue 
the superiority of 
the unproved breeds of foreign cattle over our 
own common things. That question has been 
settled in all intelligent minds, and the only 
ne to which we need now address ourselves 
s 
WHAT BREED SHALL WE ADOPT. 
That must depend upon circumstances. For a 
full understanding of this, we shall give a brief 
description of each ; and in the course of that de¬ 
scription, the particular properties of the breed 
will be shown, so that no one may be at a loss to 
adopt that which will prove both satisfactory and 
profitable to the condition of his farm and the 
uses tor which they may be required. Rejecting 
the cattle of Continental Europe as unfitted for 
he immediate objects we have in view—judging 
liom the specimens which have been brought 
among us—we take the best breeds of England 
and Scotland for our models, and will name only : 
Short Horns, Herefords, and Devons, of England 
Ayrshires and Galloways, of Scotland. 
AlAerneys, Guernseys, or Jerseys, (called by all 
these names) of the Channel Islands, depend¬ 
encies of Britain. 
These different breeds comprise all which 
have been brought into America, of any note, and 
embrace all which have any acknowledged excel¬ 
lence for economical purposes with us—or in 
Britain either, excepting the West Highland cat¬ 
tle, of Northern Scotland, which are simply a lo- 
al Dreed, in districts where nothing else will 
thrive. 
Each of these oreeds have their own distinct 
irstory, given in different English publications, 
■vita their predominating qualities, the localities 
where they have long been kept, and where they 
have been for many generations past, and still 
are. favorites, and where they are claimed to be 
the best possible breeds for the people who retain 
them. But as we are to apply them to American 
uses, with the limited experience they have had 
in this country, we shall consider them simply as 
adapted to our own soils, climates, and localities, 
so far as we can arrive at conclusions with any 
ce»taintv. and leave our readers to adopt or dis¬ 
card them, as they may choose. First in order we 
will take 
THE SHORT HORN. 
This animal, in its best estate in size, color 
amd appearance, stands peerless among the bovine 
race. Its history, in Englau l, dates back, by well 
authenticated testimony, to the fourteenth centu¬ 
ry. It was, undoubtedly, brought into the North- 
Eastern Counties of England at a much earlier 
date—probably before the Norman conquest—-from 
the coast of the neighboring Continent, where a 
class of cattle retaining many of the prominent 
characters of the race are still known. What the 
condition and appearance of the breed were at 
that early period, it is impossible to say. No doubt 
they were rude and coarse, compared to what they 
now are, as were the people themselves, and all 
their agriculture, of which we have any account. 
But that these cattle possessed the elements of im¬ 
provement such as to make, by a long course of 
care and attention, the magnificent specimens that 
are now familiar to us, there can be no doubt. 
That they are a pure breed of cattle, there can 
be little question. They exhibit characteristics 
such as no other breed of British cattle possess, 
and which have never been produced by any sort 
of admixture of other known breeds. Quacks, 
and pretenders in cattle history have undertaken 
to say—and so have written it—that the Short 
Horns are a compound breed, or an artificial race, 
got up by crossing one breed into another of a wide¬ 
ly different kind ; but the fact has not been proved, 
and no other authority than conjecture has been 
given on which to base such opinion. Such as 
they were originally, (gradually improved by a long 
course of careful breeding and better practices in 
feeding and shelter, down to a century ago), we 
first hear any extended written accounts of them 
in the North-Eastern Counties of York, Durham 
and Northumberland, where they had arrived at a 
high degree of perfection, as yet in the hands of a 
limited number of breeders. In the latter part of 
the last century their merits had become so con¬ 
spicuous the region where they most abounded 
that, in the hands of a few of their enterprising 
breeders, who sent some of the finest specimens 
over the neighboring counties as a show, they be¬ 
gan to attract attention in different parts of the 
kingdom, and were soon sought by enterprising 
cattle breeders. They have since been widely 
and rapidly disseminated throughout not only Eng* 
land, the better agricultural portions of Scotland 
and Ireland, but are making progress on the Con¬ 
tinent, as well as in the British dependencies ot 
Canada and Australia. We, too, have adopted 
them, to our manifest, advantage, where they are 
probably, forall future time to remain, and become 
extended, as one of our choice varieties of profit¬ 
able stock in all sections of the United States 
wherever the soil and climate are suited for their pro - 
duction and development. 
As we are not writing a history, or a treatise 
on the Short Horns, even, but a popular exami¬ 
nation of their merits we must refer our readers 
to the proper authorities for those particulars, and 
shall next speak of the particular merits and uses 
of the race. Of these, those who are familiar 
with, and breed them, need no extended remark ; 
but as we address many who may be unlearned in 
the subject, we will note their appearance and the 
chief merits claimed for them. 
DESCRIPTION OF SHORT HORNS. 
In size they are the largest cattle known. Their 
shape, when in perfection of growth and condi¬ 
tion, is long, round, and full. From the junction 
of the neck, with the shoulder, back to the tail, the 
body is nearly an oblong square with the angles 
rounded off, so compleie are their proportions. 
The head is small, fine and symmetrical; the neck 
also fine, yet properly proportioned, and gracefully 
set, with a clean throat, and little or no dewlap ; 
the chest full and round ; the brisket low, and 
prominently projected forward, well covered with 
flesh; the shoulders wide, and set well forward; 
the back straight and level; the ribs lound, deep 
and extending well back to the loin ; the flanks 
full, and low ; the hips broad, and level; the rump 
level also back to the tail, where they are wide ; 
the tail on a level with the rump, fine and taper¬ 
ing to its extremity. To these it may be added 
that the bone throughout is very fine, and the legs 
no larger than to give sufficient strength andmus- 
