Vol. LXII. No. 2783. 
NEW YORK, MAY 30, 1903. 
!fl PER YEAR. 
THE ORIGIN OF POLLED CATTLE. 
Development of Hornless Breeds. 
The R. N.-Y. has taken much interest in the rela- 
lionship of polled cattle to our live stock economy, and 
has published frequent contributions on the subject. 
The following may perhaps be of interest bearing on 
the early history of this type. It is quite generally 
conceded by the leading naturalists of Europe that 
(he domestic cattle of to-day are descendants of two 
types of horned, prehistoric cattle. Rutimeyer, Lyell, 
Darwin, Boyd Dawkins, Storer and others concede 
(hat there was one large type, with great horns, to 
which has been given the Latin name Bos primi- 
genius or Urus, and another smaller type, with much 
shorter horns, which was named Bos longifrons. 
Specimens of the skeletons of these have been found 
in numerous places in Europe, and especially in peat 
bogs in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1846 one 
skull was dug from a bog in Ireland with well-pre¬ 
served hair attached. A number of skulls have also 
been found, in which flint arrow heads were imbedded 
which demonstrates that these cattle were living in 
the stone age. The introduction of the polled cattle 
so far as we know, must have been a more or less 
modern occurrence. The best examples 
of descendants of the prehistoric ox that 
we have are the wild white cattle now 
in some of the British parks owned by 
wealthy men. 
A century ago there were a number of 
herds of wild white cattle in Britain, 
that have since become extinct. Refer¬ 
ence is made by Storer to a herd of wild 
white cattle at Lyme Hall “of unknown 
antiquity,” that were polled. Dr, Chas. 
Leigh relates, there were in the year 
1700, at the ancient seat of the Asshe- 
(ons, a few miles north of Manchester, 
England, “in a park, wild cattle belong¬ 
ing to Sir Ralph Ashton, of Middleton,” 
that had no horns. There were also 
other white polled wild herds. From 
these early polled white cattle perhaps 
descended the Galloway and also the 
Aberdeen Angus and the hornless cattle 
of Norfolk and Suffolk, better known as 
the Red Polled breed of to-day. 
Among the live stock books in my 
library is a little volume by Geo. Gulley, 
entitled “Observations on Live Stock.” 
Gulley was a famous stockman up in the Short-horn 
section of England, and his book was the first one to 
appear in English devoted entirely to live stock. It 
was published in 1789. Referring to the British 
breeds he writes as foilows of polled cattle: “The 
Polled or Humbled cattle come next under our con¬ 
sideration, a kind well deserving of notice. We find 
a few of these straggling through different parts of 
England and Scotland; among the rest, I remember 
Lord Darlington, not many years ago, had a very 
handsome breed of them, finely globed with red and 
white. But we must look for the original of these in 
Galloway, a large district in the southwest of Scot¬ 
land. They are mostly bred upon the moors or hilly 
country, and grazed upon the lands nearer the sea, 
until part of them are rising four, and others five 
years old, when the graziers and drovers take them 
up in prodigious numbers to the fairs in Norfolk and 
Suffolk. Though the generality of their cattle are 
polled, yet they have several with horns, which they 
say are a bastard or mongrel breed, from crossing 
with long-horned bulls. They prefer the polled ones, 
and these the black or dark-brindled ones, to any 
other; and all allow them to be the original breed of 
the country,” It is thus easy to see the prevalence 
of hornless cattle ip Britain during the great period 
of breed development in that region, beginning with 
along in the middle of the eighteenth century. No 
doubt they originated as sports and were maintained 
through a process of selection of which we can only 
form an imperfect conjecture. 
Mulley cows have long been a feature of common 
stock in America. It was the union of a Short-horn 
bull on such a cow that gave the original impetus to 
the Polled Durham type, a so-called breed hardly a 
quarter century old. Thus was begun the single¬ 
standard Polled Durham. Later, a purebred polled 
type of Short-horn, yet known as douhle-standard 
Polled Durham, resulted from the Short-horn cow 
Oakwood Gwynne 4th (Vol. XV., p. 803) when bred to 
the Short-horn bull 7th Duke of Hillhurst 34221. She 
had light horns or scurs, and dropped two heifer 
calves, Mollie and Nellie Gwynne, free from horns. 
Later, she had a bull calf, King of Kine, also free from 
horns. This latter bull was used for three years on 
the herd of W. S. Miller, of Elmore, O., and 90 per 
cent of his calves from horned cows were hornless. 
Thus we have the beginning of another hornless type, 
and one that is now attaining much popularity in the 
Middle West and elsewhere. 
Within comparatively recent years J. R. Orr, of 
Greene Go., O., and some others have been developing 
a hornless strain of Jersey cattle, which is apparently 
growing greatly in favor, from what Mr. Orr tells me. 
Judge Guthrie, of Kansas, a few years ago began 
developing, as I have heretofore described in The R. 
N.-Y., what has since swung around into a Polled 
Hereford breed, and last December a Polled Hereford 
Association was organized at Ghicago with Judge 
Guthrie as president. With established types of 
polled Short-horns and Herefords, and the well-recog¬ 
nized hornless Aberdeen Angus and Galloway breeds, 
it will apparently be unnecessary for one to grow beef 
cattle with horns, if he prefers the hornless type. Now 
another new hornless aspirant for popular favor ap¬ 
pears in the Polled Albion, which may be the result 
of reversion back to the wild, white hornless type. 
One thing is certain. A great many cattle men of 
to-day prefer to keep hornless cattle, be it for beef 
or milk. There are strong arguments in favor of the 
hornless head, and no substantial ones, perhaps, in 
favor of the horn. Its use certainly has not been of 
value while on the living head, though the packers 
get value received for horns, for they make good ferti¬ 
lizer, glue and various trinkets from them. As a 
crop, however, there are more profitable ones. 
q. «. RbVMB. 
COLLEGE EDUCATION FOR THE BOY. 
Whaf a Teacher Says. 
In the subject of education (page 343) the Hope 
Farm man is right and Madame is wrong. But he 
has the advantage; he has learned it from his ex¬ 
perience as a boy. Girls are notoriously more con¬ 
scientious in their studies, and for them a continu¬ 
ous course of study may be desirable. But judging 
from the pallid cheeks of our girls it may be ques¬ 
tionable even for them. Tell the anxious mother the 
best thing for her boys is to learn how to work. I^et 
the book knowledge come later. If a boy intends to 
be a farmer he should work for one or two years after 
leaving the grammar school. It is a growing age, 
and he should be out of doors to build up a strong 
constitution. Between the high school and college 
two more years should be spent in the open air. Our 
Doys go to college too young. They know neither the 
value of time and money, nor do they appreciate the 
best that the college has to offer. Nature also de¬ 
mands that they should live an out-of-door life. Most 
boys obey that demand. They play football and base¬ 
ball. But this leads to bad habits, for while doing 
one thing they are pretending to do another, I want 
my children to have a college education 
but they shall never enter college with 
my permission until they have earned 
enough money to pay all expenses for 
the first year in advance, and also show 
good evidence that they intend to pur¬ 
sue their studies with diligence. No 
boy or girl is worth sending to coliege 
under other conditions. In this coun¬ 
try we are worshiping an idol in the 
form of book knowledge. True educa¬ 
tion should teach us how to see, to use 
our hands, to think, to earn our bread 
and butter; in other words, how to lire. 
We have too many examples of men and 
women who have had just enough train¬ 
ing in languages and mathematics to 
lose the faculty of earning their own 
bread and butter and pay for the fine 
clothes they wear. Manual labor is be¬ 
neath them. They might soil their 
hands. Prof. Perrin, in a recent lecture 
at Boston University, said it was a 
crime to teach Latin and algebra in the 
grammar school. One is a trick to the 
higher mathematics, the other is not 
valuable until you have studied it for several years. 
If that anxious mother will surround her boys with 
proper companions, provide them with suitable read¬ 
ing, encourage them to use the dictionary and other 
reference books, they can have a better education at 
the age of 25 than the majority who go to college. 
Students come to us with good recommendations from 
their previous high school teachers, but who have no 
conception of what it is to study. Life has been too 
easy for them. These conclusions of mine are not of 
the nature of a fad, but are forced upon me every day 
of my life as a teacher. e. w. .mouse. 
BORDEAUX OR CARBONATE OF COPPER. 
After giving Bordeaux Mixture a fair trial to keep 
Peach rot out of the orchard I have come to the con¬ 
clusion that it is only partly successful. In order to 
combat the disease effectively the orchard should have 
the earliest attention, long before the disease has 
gained any foothold. Bordeaux Mixture is less apt to 
injure the still tender foliage than carbonate of cop¬ 
per, and therefore it is well to make the first two 
applications of the first-mentioned. It is then quite 
safe to follow up with carbonate of copper, one pint 
to 50 gallons of water, one thorough application afiout 
DUTCH BELTED BULL OOM PAUL No. 391. Fig. 142. See Page 414. 
