322 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
SHORTHORNS, THEIR PEDIGREES, AND MILK¬ 
ING POWERS, 
In my last letter to you on the subject of 
Short Horns, I mentioned that I had a cow 
in calf to the Duke of Glo’ster (11382). On 
Saturday last, the 9th of June, she produced 
a fine roan calf, which to my great satisfac¬ 
tion proved to be a bull. As the births of 
thoroughbred foals are recorded as they oc¬ 
cur, so it would not be uninteresting if the 
births of the highest bred calves of the Short 
Horn race were chronicled in like manner. 
In modern times, the latter have fetched 
prices quite as high as the former, and they 
certainly are as well worth them, since they 
conduce in an equal degree to the improve¬ 
ment of their race. In order to sustain the 
claim of my calf to the honor of his name 
appearing in your columns, I add the pedi¬ 
gree of his dam : Ferret Roan, of 1849, 
(bred by Mr. G. Bell), by 4th Duke of York 
(10167); dam, Fancy by Duke of Northum¬ 
berland (1940); grandam, Fancy by Shorttail 
(2621) ; gr.-g.-dam, Fletcher the 2nd by Bel- 
videre (1706); gr.-gr.-gr.-dam, by a sou of 
Young Winyard (2869), descended from Mr. 
J. Brown’s old Red Bull. 
It will be evident to any one conversant 
with the pedigrees of Mr. Bates’ herd, that 
there is much very close breeding in that of 
my calf, and yet he far exceeds any calf I 
have bred this year in size and stoutness ; 
in fact, his size is considerably above the 
average. This is another confirmation of 
the truth of Mr. Bates’ view, that although 
to breed in and in from bad stock was to use 
his own expression, “ ruin and devastation,” 
yet that practice may be safely followed 
within certain limits where the animals so 
related are descended from first-rate parents, 
and are themselves of undeniable excellence. 
In this, as in every other point, success or 
failure depend upon the judgment of the 
breeder. It is, however, so much more 
common for men to over-estimate the mer¬ 
its of their own stock than to rate them too 
low, that it can not but be useful to breeders 
carefully to guard against this tendency in 
themselves. It is certain that he who keeps 
his eyes open to excellenee, wherever it ex¬ 
ists, and avails himself of it whenever it is 
within his reach, will, in the end, have a 
better herd than he who, taking it for grant¬ 
ed that his stock is perfection, never troubles 
himself to look beyond it. The history of 
Short Horn breeding affords abundant evi¬ 
dence of the truth of this maxim, from the 
time when Mr. C. Colling purchased Hub- 
back, which though of unknown pedigree, is 
an ancestor of many of our best Short Horns, 
down to the introduction of Cleveland Lad 
by Mr. Bates into his herd. 
I think that Mr. Horsfall, in his interesting 
record of his dairy practice, does not state 
whether he adheres to any one breed of 
cows, or whether he purchases such as he 
conceives best adapted for milking, irrespect¬ 
ive of any other consideration. It would 
be both useful and interesting, however, if 
he and other agriculturists would state the 
results of their experience of the milk-pro¬ 
ducing powers of the principal breeds of cat¬ 
tle in the kingdom. As regards the Short 
Horns, there is, I believe, a prevalent notion 
that they are indifferent milkers. Although 
facts may seem to lend a certain degree of 
support to this opinion, it is nevertheless a 
mistake which an impartial investigation 
must dispel. In the first place, the principal 
ancestors of the improved Short Horns—the 
old Holderness cows—were, and are still, 
the deepest milkers in the kingdom. Is it 
likely, then, that these descendants should 
wholly have lost this valuable property ? It 
may, indeed, be alleged that the celebrated 
cross with the Galloway cow resorted to by 
Mr. C. Colling may have produced injurious 
consequences in this respect. I think that 
the effects of this “ alloy,” whether for good 
or the reverse, have Been over-estimated in¬ 
asmuch as the cow “ Lady,” from which 
this family is descended, had only T y.h of the 
Galloway blood in her veins. As Favorite 
(252) was quite unconnected with the “ al¬ 
loy,” as were also several other celebrated 
originals of the Short Horns, it is evident 
that the Union of them with the cow Lady 
would give ^d of that cross in the next gen¬ 
eration. Except, therefore, in those herds 
where the “ alloy” has been purposely fol¬ 
lowed out, it may be estimated that from 
^th to ^th of Galloway blood is the utmost 
proportion which exists in modern Short 
Horns, and it is obviously insufficient to ob¬ 
literate any well established property belong¬ 
ing to the original race. 
But leaving the domain of speculation to 
pass to that of fact, are the improved Short 
Horns good dairy cows or not? From a 
considerable mass of evidence which I have 
collected to prove the affirmative of this prop¬ 
osition, my limits here only allow me to re¬ 
fer to the pamphlet of the Rev. Dr. H. Berry, 
who gives a long list of cows of the highest 
pedigree with the measured quantity of milk 
given by each. Several of these gave 24 
quarts daily ; one 32, another 36, and one as 
much as 38 quarts. From this authentic 
testimony as to the early character of the 
breed, I must pass on to the valuable article 
of Mr. Dickenson, (Journal of the Royal Ag¬ 
ricultural Society, vol. xi,) on the farming 
of Cumberland, and the perusal of which I 
recommend to all interested in this subject. 
He mentions a high-bred cow called Kate, 
which gave 13 quarts at a meal, and from 
this quantity yielded at the end of a week 26 
lbs. of butter ! About the fact' itself there 
can be no doubt, noting as it does on the 
testimony of her owner, Mr. Fisherson, of 
Harker Lodge. Another cow mentioned by 
Mr. Dickenson produced in 32 weeks 373 
lbs. of butter, being at the rate of lHlbs. 
per week! My own experience on the sub¬ 
ject is, that while their milking powers are 
at least equal to those of any other breed, 
they possess over all others the great advan¬ 
tage of keeping their condition on food on 
which common cows would starve. I am 
far from maintaining that all Short Horns 
are good milkers. Two causes have con¬ 
tributed to injure them in this respect; 1st. 
That being a point to which many breeders 
are indifferent, they have selected their orig¬ 
inals and continued to breed solely with re¬ 
ference to symmetry, size, and the propensi¬ 
ty to early maturity. As therefore not only 
good qualities but the lack of them descend, 
it can not be suprising that many Short 
Horns give but little milk. 2d. From the 
emulation of breeders to show the finest an¬ 
imal at the earliest age, a system of pamper¬ 
ing is begun at birth and carried on until the 
animal is either sold or slaughtered, which 
from the premature development of fat which 
it produces,tends to depress every other 
vital function. This system, unfavorable as 
it is for allowing the milk-producing powers 
to develop themselves in any individual sub¬ 
jected to it, is fatal when pursued for gener¬ 
ation after generation. After a time, “ func¬ 
tion,” to use the words of Dr. Playfair, “ be¬ 
gins to react on organization,” and'a tribe of 
bad milkers is formed, among which individ¬ 
uals may even occur which will give no 
milk. Most sincerely do I wish that the forc¬ 
ing system were utterly exploded, injurious 
as it is alike to the Short Horns themselves 
and their reputation. If they will not thrive 
on the ordinary keep of other breeding stock, 
the sooner they are abandoned the better. 
But it is their pre eminent merit that they 
are the best thrivers in existence. As milk¬ 
ers, when well selected and rationally treated, 
it is not easy to find cows which will excel 
them. Sometimes even they will at one 
and the same time give the same quantities 
of milk, and carry a great deal of flesh, al¬ 
though this is not in general desirable. 
When I think of the number of good milk¬ 
ers I have known among the Short Horns, 
and remember that it was an original char¬ 
acteristic of the tribe, it appears to me of 
great consequence, considering the national 
importance of dairy produce, to use every 
exertion to render so valuable a quality per¬ 
manent. Good milkers are not over abund¬ 
ant among any variety of the vaccine spe¬ 
cies, and are most scarce among ill-bred 
mongrels. Mr. Atten, of Longcroft, had two 
or three years a white cow of the name of 
Penguin, descended from the stock of Mr. 
Robertson, of Ladykirk, which was an ex¬ 
traordinary milker. Colonel Kingscote’s 
cow Honeysuckle is remarkable even in his 
herd, where this point is so successfully cul¬ 
tivated, for the same quality. Mr. Sainsbury 
is strenuous in attaining high excellence 
here as in every other point. Among my 
own cows, which are milking better this 
year than I ever knew them before, I may 
be allowed to name one which at nine years 
is a most extraordinary milker, viz., Jessy, 
bred by Mr. R. Bell. She is by Napoleon 
(10,552) dam by Cleveland Lad (3,407), &c., 
and has bred a prize heifer. She may there¬ 
fore be cited as a proof that it is possible to 
combine the quality for which I am contend¬ 
ing with the best Short Horn blood. In 
conclusion I may add that I am preparing 
for publication an article on the breeding of 
Short Horns, and shall therefore feel obliged 
for any communications from breeders con¬ 
taining facts in reference to this or other 
points worthy of notice. I shall also be glad 
to show my small herd to any breeder who 
may happen to be visiting this neighborhood. 
They are as hardly kept as those of any 
neighboring farmer, and as my object is to 
make cheese, the calves are weaned from 
new milk at an earlier age than is usual 
among the breeders of Short Horns.— Wil¬ 
loughby Wood, Holly Bank, Burlon-on-Trent. 
—Agricultural Gazette. 
HAY CAPS AGAIN. 
These are found very useful, both for hay 
and grain, in the wet andchangable weather 
now prevailing. The N. Y. Times copied 
our recent article on this subject, which 
called out the following testimony to their 
utility from a correspondent of that paper: 
I was very glad to see in your paper of 
yesterday, a short article on the subject of 
hay caps, which I have used for the last five 
years with great advantage. They should 
be made in the following manner, namely : 
Stout, unbleached sheeting should be pur¬ 
chased, (such as is made by the Lyman Mills 
Company at Holyoke,) from 36 to 42 inches 
wide ; the latter is the best—which should 
be cut into lengths of 40 to 45 inches. The 
latter is the most useful. A much larger 
size would be objectionable as they would 
exclude the air from the hay cocks. To 
make 40 of them, (and no extensive farmer 
should have less than 100,) would require a 
gallon of linseed oil, which should be sim¬ 
mered with four pounds of beeswax, and a 
quart of Japan added after it is taken from 
the fire. When cold, the mixture should be 
about the thickness of lard in summer, if not, 
more oil or more wax may be added. 
The cloths should then be payed over, to 
use a sea expression, with the hand or a 
small piece of shingle, on one side only, and 
then dried in the sun; when dry, the females 
of the family will cheerfully, and in a very 
short time, sew into each corner a stone of 
the weight of about seven or eight ounces, 
which completes the affair. 
