76 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
RURAL SURROUNDINGS. 
NUMBER II.—ON CATTLE. 
Iii our first talk on this subject we dis¬ 
coursed of the horse. Our discourse is now 
upon cattle. Let us preface. We have seen 
various pictures in our time hung upon the 
walls of parlors, drawing-rooms, and the 
like, representing different scenes, in which 
cattle, sheep, and other rural objects, were 
introduced, and we scarce remember, 
among them all, seeing a single animal of 
any description, that if offered for sale in 
market, would attract the eye of a purchaser 
wanting a good thing. We once inquired of 
an eminent landscape painter why such rug¬ 
ged looking cattle, sheep, &c., were painted 
on his canvass 1 The reply was that they 
were picturesque ! So, the meaner his cat¬ 
tle the more valuable his picture ! Why not 
paint the whole scenery of trees and grounds 
as mean and contemptible as the cattle ? 
The artists don’t know everything yet. 
Now, utility being a part of beauty, in 
anything, we hold that the more useful an 
object is, coupled with our daily require¬ 
ments, the more beautiful it becomes by as¬ 
sociation Therefore, everything which sur¬ 
rounds the rural home should be as perfect 
of its kind as our circumstances or opportu¬ 
nities will admit. Cows on the farm, or at 
the country residence, are indispensible. 
Oxen may, or may not be so. We will com¬ 
mence with the cow. She gives us milk ; 
the milk yields cream ; the cream makes 
butter—three indispensible articles of good 
house-keeping. Now, what constitutes a 
<roo<l cow 1 We will give you our definition. 
First —One that gives a large yield of rich 
milk. Second —A gentle, kind creature, that 
feeds well, and is quiet in her habits. Third 
—Beauty of appearance in form, proportion, 
color and size—the latter not over large 
nor diminutively small. There are various 
breeds of cows as there are of other domes¬ 
tic animals, and good milkers among the 
most of them. We are an advocate of breeds 
in everything which is propagated—folks 
even—for there is a difference, strange as 
you may think, in the breeds of common 
humanity, all around us. We could give a 
chapter on this if we had time, but this is 
not the subject of our present writing—our 
discourse is of cattle. 
First and foremost then, we acknowledge 
but two distinct breeds of the cow, which 
are perfect of their kind, and that are likely 
to be applied to the use of our people at 
large, if they seek an improved variety—the 
Short Horn and the Devon. These are so 
marked in their features and characteristics, 
and combine, withal, so much of style and 
beauty, that they will become the universal 
favorites of those who possess a marked 
taste in horned animals ; although, before 
we get through, we will mention a couple of 
others, possessing attractions of a certain 
character, to which we will yield all proper 
acknowledgment. In the choice of breeds, 
somewhat will depend on your climate, soil, 
and position. If your soil be rich, and your 
pastures good, the Short-Horn is the cow 
for your choice. In size, she is large, in 
color red, red and white, spotted, roan or 
creamy white—all beautiful colors when 
clean, and no color is agreeable when dirty. 
Her value, depending somewhat on the pu¬ 
rity of her blood, her style of appearance and 
milking quality, may be from $75 to $300. 
For milking purposes only, the first is a rea¬ 
sonable sum, the latter extravagant—even a 
•• breeder’s ” price. For all useful and orna¬ 
mental objects combined, a hundred dollars 
will secure the cow you want; and she is a 
cheap animal at that. She will give you, on 
good pasture, twenty to thirty quarts of milk 
a day, making six to twelve pounds of butter 
a week, and on hay and slops half to two- 
thirds the quantity of each for six months of 
of the year, and a proportionably good yield 
for four months more, allowing her to bring 
a calf every year. In the pasture, the pad- 
dock, the stable or the yard, she is always 
an object of beauty and admiration, if well 
kept, and without good keeping no cow is 
worth anything. 
The Devon is a beautiful, graceful, deer¬ 
like crealure, of a cherry red color, a ga¬ 
zelle eye, an upturned, long, graceful horn, 
as lithe in her action as a fawn, gentle as a 
kitten, and usually an excellent milker. 
Smaller and more active than the Short- 
Horn, she will subsist on closer pasture and 
less stable food, although she requires good 
keep. She will, if of a milking family, give 
as much milk and butter according to the 
food she consumes as the Short-Horn ; so 
that in an economical view they are about 
equal—the point of difference being in the 
taste you indulge for one or the other varie¬ 
ty. Her sale value is in about the same 
proportion to the Short-Horn as her weight 
and quality. In hill or mountain scenery, 
the active Devon is perfectly suited to the 
place, while on plain and low land the Short- 
Horn is in its truer character. Yet either 
of them, in any habitable place, are useful 
and satisfactory cows, and beautiful objects 
to look upon. 
Having the place, and wishing to provide 
yourself with one or the other of the varie- 
of cows in question, we suppose you to 
keep one to half a dozen, as your family 
needs, or the demands of your farm may re¬ 
quire, you may need some instruction how 
to obtain them, If you are accustomed to 
stock, in their purchase and sale, you know, 
of course, where to buy them. If not, you 
must get a trusty cattle jobber, ora friend to 
do it for you. These descriptions of cattle 
are now kept in every Northern and Middle 
State, both in pure and mixed blood, and 
with one or the other you may be sure of 
being supplied. And here comes in tl;e pol¬ 
icy of your being settled in a good neighbor¬ 
hood—people like yourself, having a taste 
for good animals, and disposed to keep them. 
It is of little use to get a fine cow or two for 
breeding purposes, allby yourself. You are 
disposed to keep them good to propagate 
their kind, of equal value at least, and to im¬ 
prove them if you can. If you keep too 
few cows to afford the expense of a bull, a 
few neighbors can join in his purchase and 
keep him for mutual benefit; otherwise it is 
of little use to keep a fine cow, and breed 
from her nothing but scrubs, or bastards, fit 
only for the butcher, and poor at that. A 
calf or two can be profitably reared on al¬ 
most every country place, either to dispose 
of to your liberal neighbors, or to supply 
your own increasing wants. All this, how¬ 
ever, your own and your neighbor’s good 
sense will govern. But, let the bull affair 
stand as it may, by all means have the im¬ 
proved cow, one or more of them. 
Though naming the Short-Horn and De 
von as the cows we prefer, and which, ow¬ 
ing to their rapid dissemination over the 
country, are easy to obtain, there are two 
other varieties which have their advocates, 
and are truly useful, and in their own sep¬ 
arate characters, valuable milkers, as well 
as agreeable objects of sight. VVe allude to 
the Ayrshire and the Alderney. The first of 
them is the famous Scotch dairy cow, a 
composite variety, bred near a century ago, 
into a class, by a cross ©f the English Short- 
Horn bull, on the native Kyloe, acclimated 
on the Scotch low lands. She is usually red 
and white in color, the red rising into a yel¬ 
lowish dun, or falling into a chestnut brown, 
her general appearance being that of a di¬ 
minutive Short-Horn, with less style and 
symmetry, but still of a marked character. 
They are good milkers, though not so good 
in America as in Scotland, (in which latter 
country the frequent rains give them always 
good pastures,) but still good both in milk 
and butter. They are gentle, kind in tem¬ 
per, and easily kept. 
The Alderney is the “ paddock ” cow of 
the English gentry in the south of England. 
The Channel Islands of Guernsey, Alderney 
and Jersey, arc her native soils, where she 
has for centuries been bred and improved— 
brought originally from the adjacent coast, 
of Normandy. She is a diminutive creature, 
fawn color and white in complexion, with a 
soft, silky udder, yielding a moderate quan¬ 
tity of the creamiest milk in the world 1 She 
is delicate, too, in habit, requiring warm 
housing in rough weather, and plenty of nu¬ 
tritious food. She is not beautiful to the 
eye, wmaring a scraggy look ; but with the 
eye of a gazelle, and a head as blood-like as 
the elk—more like an elk, in fact, than any 
other—bating the horn, which is a lill.le 
crumpled thing that may barely be called a 
horn. She is sway-backed, crooked-legged, 
and cat-hammed, yet, withal, has a look of 
caste and high-breeding, even in her dimin¬ 
utive ugliness, and will ornament your pad- 
dock yard or pasture, as your taste or parti- 
alily may direct. 
Thus we have given you a selection of 
these four varieties, and without declaring 
our own preference of either, you may view 
each and select for yourselves. This, how¬ 
ever, we distinctly say: that no country 
dweller need think himself a man of taste 
who does not adopt one or the other of 
these, either “ thorough-bred,” or of suf¬ 
ficient of the breed in their composition 
to mark them distinctly from the “ common ” 
cattle of the country, and show that he is a 
man of taste in the selection of his cows. 
A mean looking cowon a highly-cultivated 
country place is an absolute disgrace to its 
