208 
AMERICAN AGRIC U LTURIST. 
[July, 
IMPORTED ALDERNEY COW “ JUNO,” Property OF CiiAS. L. SnARPLESS. — Engraved tor the American. Agriculturist. 
Alderney or Jersey Cattle. 
The cattle of the Channel Islands possess cer¬ 
tain marked tpeculiari ties which •distinguish them 
from the. breeds of Great Britain, and show their 
'kinship to those of the Continent, particularly 
to the cattle of Normandy and northern France, 
near which coast the islands are situated. On 
the islands of Jersey and Alderney, there has 
been for man}'’ years little or no importation of 
cattle from the mainland, and as the islands are 
small, the breed has become very distinctly mark¬ 
ed. The Guernsey cattle approach much more 
nearly those of Normandy, and though of 
larger size than the little graceful Alderncys, and 
greater milkers perhaps, they are not so highly 
esteemed, and have not been so purely or care¬ 
fully bred. The Agricultural Society of Jersey 
and many private breeders, have of late years 
taken great pains to improve the stock. For 
this reason, and because all the most prized im¬ 
portations are from this island, the name “Jer¬ 
sey ” is often applied to the breed which was 
originally recognized as the “ Alderney.” In 
Great Britain, the Alderncys are scattered in 
small herds, chiefly in the hands of the wealth¬ 
ier class, gentlemen whose tables are supplied 
with the most golden of butter, and the richest 
of milk and cream from the pretty, gentle ani¬ 
mals kept tethered upon the lawns. Many of 
them have only a single cow or two, and take 
no pairts to breed them to good bulls of the 
same breed. The Alderney bull, besides, marks 
his offspring so strongly after his breed, that 
three-quarter, or even half-breeds often possess 
very nearly or quite as good milking qualities 
as full bloods, and ’ook so nearly like them that 
only good judge 1 , can see the difference. It hap¬ 
pens [hat qs A.cSerney co^ys bring a gpod price 
in this country, and as the word imported seems 
with many persons to be a guaranty of all ex¬ 
cellence, shipmasters find it convenient to 
bring out the cows which these English gentle¬ 
men have used, perhaps, until dry, and then ex¬ 
changed or sold. The cows being bought by 
some dealer near Liverpool or other seaport, 
and kept until in milk again, are then put into 
market to be returned to some gentleman’s 
lawn, or to be shipped across the Atlantic. No 
doubt many excellent cows may be obtained in 
this way—good enough for any body, as givers 
of rich milk. But in this way, much Alderney 
blood has been brought into the country which 
can not be considered as pure , or at least which 
no one can prove to be pure. 
To be sure of the purity of the blood of these 
animals, one must be able to trace it straight 
back to the Island of Jersey , and we must add— 
through the hands of men of most honorable charac¬ 
ter. There has been so much jocky-like dealing 
that we are confident there is a great deal of 
impure blood now in the possession of men who 
desire nothing more than to establish well-bred 
herds of this favorite breed. Such men ought 
to subject the records of their animals to the se¬ 
verest tests, and weed out all concerning which 
there is a suspicion, or a flaw in the record. 
The breed is fast improving in all good points, 
retaining at the same time its high character for 
richness of milk. Its characteristics are a pecu¬ 
liarly deer-like head, neck and legs, a soft coat 
and fine pliable skin, often of a rich, almost 
golden flesh-colored tint. The prevailing colors 
are white, black and dun, inclining to grey and 
red, with “mealy muzzles,” and the backs usual¬ 
ly dusted with grey, in the dark colored animals. 
The muzzles are black, usually, and often the 
entire interior of the mouth is of the same col¬ 
or. Neither cows nor bulls can be considered 
well shaped, yet the cows are very pretty, though 
small. They are exceedingly gentle, and feed 
well at a tether, ingeniously extricating them¬ 
selves if tliey get into trouble. Their value is 
as milkers, and not for the quantity but for the 
richness and color of the milk, cream, and but¬ 
ter. In this they are not excelled by any known 
breed of kine. The milk is as yellow as most- 
cream, and the cream itself is proportionately 
high colored, the butter being fine, waxy and of 
a beautiful golden yellow. The quantity made 
from the milk of the Alderney, is generally ad¬ 
mitted to be greater than can be made from 
cows of any other breed, and certainly the col¬ 
or, flavor and general appearance mark it as so 
superior to most, that it always brings a higher 
price in markets where it is known. The cows, 
when dry or spayed, and the steers, fatten with 
great ease, and make most excellent beef. The 
bulls are apt to be fractious and ugly, and their 
dispositions contrast strongly with the truly 
feminine qualities of the cows. 
The fine engraving herewith presented, is from 
an exquisitely beautiful photograph of “Juno,” 
a cow of this breed imported from the island of 
Jersey, and owned by Chas. L. Sharpless, of 
Philad’a. The animal is a very beautiful one, and 
the engraving in no respect “ flatters ” the pho¬ 
tograph, by making the head and feet smaller, 
the eye larger, the back straighter, etc., as is al¬ 
most invariably the case with the pictures of 
animals taken by the artists who make animal 
drawing their profession. Nay—not animal 
drawing, but drawing simply to please animal 
owners. We are sick of seeing cattle at. urawn 
to one pattern, and it is time that the costly cai t- 
catures which our stock-breeders use to re¬ 
present their fine animals, gave place to portraits. 
