i 
VOL. xxvr. NO. 15 
WHOLE NO. 1185. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N, Y„ OCT, 12, 1872 
PRICE S4I3C CENTS, 
82.50 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of C'i 
ongreaa, in the year 1872, by D, O. T. Mooftft, In the ofllce of tho Librarian of Congresa, at Washington.) 
from about the year 1780, lirst by a cross 
with a stranger breed, combined with a bet¬ 
ter system of feeding. Arrox, who wrote 
a survey of the county, and who was him¬ 
self a farmer in thedistrict of Cunningham, 
could well recollect the appearance and 
condition of tho cows in that district as far 
back as 1700. After great pains taken to in¬ 
quire into the origin of the present celebra¬ 
ted breed, he was of opinion that they are 
descended from the native stock of the dis¬ 
trict, changed in their color, and partly in 
their shapes and qualities, by being crossed 
with tile Tewswater or Dutch broods. How¬ 
ever valuable tho breed has now become, it 
is said tile lirst offspring of the cross was 
far from being of the best shapo. Tho 
race was chiofly propagated by coupling 
bulls of tho stranger with cows of the na¬ 
tive races, and, us the former were far su¬ 
perior iu size to the latter, as might natu¬ 
rally bo expected, the progeny had at lirst 
an ill-shaped, mongrel appearance, with 
bouos large and prominent; but these cat¬ 
tle soon toned down, accommodating them¬ 
selves to tho state of the pastures; and the 
improvements that began about that time 
to be made on the soil or tho Western coun¬ 
ties rouderod tho pastures capable of sup¬ 
porting much heavier stocks. 
Tho most desirable quality of dairy cows, 
of any breed, is that they should yield a 
large quantity of milk iu proportion to the 
quantity of food they consume, and that 
when dry they should fatten quickly. Tho 
pure-bred Ayrshire certainly excels all 
other in the former, ami us to the latter slm 
is no way inferior to many of the best es¬ 
tablished breeds. Of the quantity of milk 
which an average Ayrshire dairy cow yields 
it is difficult to speak with precision; there 
is not only a great diversity between some 
of those animals and others, but the quun- 
subject is open to contradiction by such as 
are disposed to cavil. Arrox says that some 
of the dairy cows iu Ayrshire yield Tor a 
time from five to six gallons of milk per 
day. Such returns are, however, rare; yet 
many, when in their host plight and well 
fed, will yield four gallons per day for three 
months, and during the season produce a 
total of 800 to 000 gallons per cow. Many 
will, however, not yield more than half that 
quantity, and probably 000 gallons per cow 
during theyear may be taken as a fair aver¬ 
age of the Ayrshire dairy stock. Arrox 
goes on to say that since tho publication of 
his survey the farmers have satisfied him 
that ho baa underrated the produce of their 
Cattle, and that they have furnished him 
with satisfactory proofs of various cows 
having produced from six to seven gallons 
per day for several weeks; these, he re¬ 
marks, are, no doubt, extraordinary re¬ 
turns. 
The most approved points of the Ayrshire 
cow areHead small, but rather long, and 
AYRSHIRE CATTLE 
Herewith we present an illustration of 
the modern English type of Ayrshire cattle, 
from drawings by Harrison Weir. This 
breed originated iu the County of Ayr, 
Scotland, which consists of three districts— 
Garrick, Kyle, and Cunningham. The lat¬ 
ter district claims to be tbe cradle of tho 
improved Ayrshire dairy breed, of cattle. 
The Aryshire cattle, in 1780, iu the district 
of Cunningham, were then of small stature 
and badly fed; they were mostly black, with 
white spots on their faces, back, and other 
parts of their bodies; the cows had high- 
standing crooked horns, marked with very 
deep ringlets at their base, a true indica¬ 
tion of their meager faro. Gilbert Mur- 
rav writes to the London Field that the 
improvement of the Ayrshire breed dates 
mm 
