EDITORIAL. 
3 
Agriculturist write the following article in their excellent jour¬ 
nal, it is a question whether our claim for it is necessary. 
This, we reproduce from the issue of April 27th: 
We have received an excellent communication on the same 
subject from one of our best zootechnicians, which we are 
obliged to defer to our next publication. 
NORMAN OR COTENTIN CATTLE. 
Among the recent arrivals at the port of New York was that of twelve head of 
Norman cattle, owned by Mr. J. B. Guillot. . They were at once taken—as all foreign 
cattle arriving there must be, under existing laws—to the United States quarantine 
station, at Garfield, N. J., where they will remain until they have completed the legal 
detention of ninety days. The Norman, although it is one of the oldest existing 
races of domesticated eattle, is very little known in the United States, but few of them 
having ever been imported previous to this recent arrival. The leading characteris¬ 
tics of Norman cattle are great size, with rather coarse bone, long and heavy head, 
fine horns,—usually bent forward and downward,—long deep body, broad hips, short 
legs, thick and rather hard skin, well covered with a coat of various shades of red, 
white, roan and reddish brown in spots, and brindled streaks. The cows have well- 
developed milk veins, and large, well-formed udders. It is claimed for them by 
Norman farmers that they are the best dairy cows in the world, and they unquestion¬ 
ably hold the leading position among French breeds of cattle. Twenty-five to thirty 
quarts of milk a day is not an unusual yield for a Norman cow in full flush, and is 
sometimes considerably exceeded, while 6,000 pounds within a year is not above the 
average. It is mainly from their milk that the famous Camenbert and Brie cheeses 
are made. The butter, known in Paris under the trade name of beurre d'Isigny, 
commands the highest prices at the semi-weekly auction sales of the Halles Centrales, 
the great market place of the french capital. As beef animals, Norman cattle are 
noted for early maturity and great weight rather than large net weight of dressed 
carcass. Cows which have served their purpose in the daii*y are fattened until they 
attain weights of 1,200 to 1,800 pounds. Steers at ages of two and a half to three 
years weigh from 1,600 to 2,000 lbs., and there are authentic records of Norman 
oxen which at six years of age weighed 4,185 to 4,335 lbs. This “general-purpose ” 
quality is of great importance to the small proprietors of France, as it enables them 
to turn to profitable account their “dowager” cows and surplus mules. The beef is 
of good quality, but there is a larger proportion of bone and offal than in the British 
breeds of beef cattle. They are heavy eaters, and require an abundance of nutri¬ 
tious food. The strongest claim to public favor made in behalf of this breed is on 
the ground of its hardiness and freedom from all tuberculous taint. In Normandy 
great numbers of these cattle are kept in thriving condition without shelter, winter 
and summer throughout the year. 
The habitat of Norman cattle comprises the departments of Eure, Calvados, 
Manche and Orne. Its origin is lost in the midst of ages. An evidence of its great 
antiquity is the fact that the Bayeux tapestry, wrought in the eleventh century under 
