250 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
haps a few may be too far advanced, others may be 
started several days later. 
The Alderney Breed of Cattle 
BY AN AMATEUR BREEDER. 
The Channel Island breed of cattle, popularly known 
in this country as “ Alderneys,” consists of two classes 
of the same breed. The Guernsey is the larger of the 
two, usually of a light fawn color, patched with \yhite. 
The Jersey class is smaller; and the color to which more 
attention has been paid is a dark, or, as the Scottish say, 
“ dun ” deer, and is popular in England, no doubt in 
consequence of its more aristocratic appearance. The 
Alderney is essentially a cream-and-butter-producing 
breed, giving more milk, and of richer quality in propor¬ 
tion to its size, than any other cow ; the best have been 
known to give from 10 lbs. to 14 Sis. per week. This 
merit gives them their place in live-stock, either for 
dairies near fashionable towns like Brighton, or as cows 
for the park and the villa paddock, combining in the 
highest degree utility and ornament. The dairies of 
great cities are chiefly supplied by cows of the Dutch 
or the Shorthorn cross, which give large quantities of 
comparatively poor milk, and when dry fatten easily for 
the butcher. This is not the place of the Alderney, 
which, in England at any rate, is essentially the gentle¬ 
man’s cow. 
Writers on the subject, copying one another, assume 
that, because the Channel Islands were once a depend¬ 
ency of Normandy, the Alderneys are an offshoot of the 
Normandy breed ; but few breeds could have less resem¬ 
blance. It has also been suggested that they are an off¬ 
shoot of another good dairy tribe, the Ayrshires; but 
Ayrshires are much more like a small Shorthorn cultivated 
for milking purposes. At the great International Exhi¬ 
bition of live-stock in Paris in 1855, where nearly all the 
ox tribe of Europe were represented, the late Eislier 
Hobhs, of Boxted Lodge, Essex, a very good judge, came 
to the conclusion that the true ancestors of the Ayrshires 
were Danish, and that the Alderneys were more probably 
descended from some Swiss mountain breeds, of which 
many specimens were there exhibited—dark and light 
fawn in color, and fine in head and horns. 
At the present time there is no doubt that in England, 
where the principles of selection have so long been suc¬ 
cessfully applied to horned stock and sheep, finer speci¬ 
mens of the Alderney have been produced than in their 
native islands. 
For many years the farmers of the Channel Islands, 
while sternly prohibiting any importation of bulls, have 
made the rearing of heifers for the English market a pro¬ 
fitable part of their business; but it is only within a 
comparatively recent period that they have learned from 
English breeders the advantages to be derived from a 
careful selection in obtaining symmetry as well as milk. 
Amongst English breeders who have shown what could 
be done towards obtaining the best points of a milking 
cow by applying Bakewcllian principles of selection, Mr. 
Philip Dauncey, of Horwood, near Winslow, Bucks, 
occupies, or rather occupied, the most distinguished 
position. For nearly ha! f a century he devoted his atten¬ 
tion to obtaining great milking qualities, symmetry, con¬ 
stitution, and a uniform fawn color without white. His 
success placed him at least half a century in advance of 
the Channel Islanders. When in 1807 Mr. Dauncey retired 
from stock-farming, in consequence of his advanced age, 
his sixty-nine cows and heifers produced £3,285. Mr. 
Marjoribanks gave over one hundred pounds for his cow 
“ Landscape,” and Mr.Walter Gilbey just under that sum 
for the heifer “ Ban.” 
Mr. Dauncey produced a breed much more hardy than 
the original Channel Islanders; his stock lying out on 
the pastures throughout the year. The imported Alder¬ 
neys are delicate, and on first introduction require slight 
shelter in the cold weather, but they soon afterwards be¬ 
come acclimatised. 
A decided improvement has taken place in Alderneys 
since 1833. The Jersey Agricultural Society was founded 
in that year, under the presidency of General Thornton, 
the Lieutenant-Governor. The council of the Society 
drew up a scale of points from the examination of the 
best specimens of the animals then in the island, thirty 
of which were assumed to constitute perfection. Some 
years later, this table was revised and settled as follows; 
SCALE OF POINTS TOR BULLS. 
Article Points. 
1. Head, fine and tapering. 1 
2. Forehead, broad. 1 
3. Cheek, small. 1 
4. Throat, clean. 1 
5. Muzzle, fine, and eneircled by a light color. 1 
6. Nostrils, high and open. 1 
7. Horns, smooth, crumpled, not too thick at the base, 
and tapering, tipped with black. 1 
8. Ears, small and thin. 1 
9. Ears, of a deep orange color within. 1 
10. Eyes, full and lively.1 
11. Neck, arched, powerful, but not too coarse and 
heavy. 1 
12. Chest, broad and deep. 1 
13. Barrel, hooped, broad, and deep.1 
14. Well-ribbed home, having but little space between 
the last rib and the hip. 1 
15. Back, straight from the withers to the top of 
the hip. 1 
1G. Back, straight from the top of the hip to the setting 
on of the tail, and the tail at right angles wijh 
the back. 1 
17. Tail, fine. 1 
18. TaH, hanging down to the hocks. 1 
19. Hide, mellow and movable, but not too loose. 1 
20. Hide, covered with fine soft hair. 1 
21. Hide, of good color. 1 
22. Fore-legs, short and straight. 1 
23. Fore-arm, large and powerful, swelling, and full 
above the knee, and fine below it. 1 
24. Hind-quarters, from the hock to the point of the 
rump, long and well filled up. 1 
25. Hind-legs, short and straight (below the hocks), 
and bones rather fine. . 1 
26. Hind-legs, squarely placed, and not too near toge¬ 
ther when viewed from behind. 1 
27. Hind-legs, not to cross in walking. 1 
28. Hoofs, small. 1 
29. Growth. 1 
30. General appearance. 1 
31. Gondition. 1 
Perfection.. 31 
No prize shall bo awarded to bulls having less than 25 
points. 
Bulls having obtained 23 points shall be allowed to be 
branded, but can not take a prize. 
SCALE or POINTS FOIt COWS AND HEIFERS. 
Article Points. 
1. Head, small, fine, and tapering. 1 
2. Cheek, small. 1 
3. Throat, clean. 1 
4. Muzzle, flue, and encircled by alight color.1 
5. Nostrils, high and open. 1 
6. Horns, .mooit. crumpled, not too thick at the base, 
and taper:;.: ....... 1 
7. Ears, small and thin. 1 
8. Ears, of a deep orange color within. 1 
9. Eye, full and placid . 1 
10. Neck, straight, fine, and placed lightly on the 
shoulders. 1 
11. Chest, broad and deep. 1 
12. Barrel, hooped, broad, and deep . 1 
13. Well-ribbed home, having but little space between 
the last rib and the hip. 1 
14. Back, straight from the withers to the top of the hip 1 
15. Back, straight from the top of the hip to the setting 
on of the tail, and the tail at right angles with 
the back. 1 
10. Tail, fine. 1 
17. Tail, hanging down to the hocks. 1 
18. Hide, thin and movable, but not too loose. 1 
19. Hide, covered with fine soft hair. 1 
20. Hide, of good color. 1 
21. Fore-legs, short, straight, and fine. 1 
22. Fore-arm, swelling, and full above the knee. 1 
23. Hind-quarters, from the hock to the point of the 
rump, long, and well filled up. 1 
24. Hind-legs, short and straight (below the hocks), and 
bones rather fine. 1 
25. Hind-legs, squarely placed, not too close together 
when viewed from behind. 1 
2G. Hind-legs, not to cross in walking. 1 
27. noofs, small. 1 
28. Udder, full in form— i. e., well in line with the belly 1 
29. Udder, well up behind. 1 
30. Teats, large and squarely placed, behind wido apart 1 
31. Milk-veins, very prominent. 1 
32. Growth. 1 
33. General appearance.. 1 
3-1. Condition. 1 
Perfection.34 
No prize shall be awarded to cows having less than 29 
points. 
No prize shall be awarded to heifers having less than 
26 points. 
Cows having obtained 27 points, and heifers 24 points, 
shall be allowed to be branded, but can not take a prize. 
Three points—viz., Nos. 28, 29, and 31—shall be de¬ 
ducted from the number required for perfection in heifers, 
as their udder and milk-veins can not be fully developed; 
a heifer will therefore be considered perfect at 30 points. 
In 1866 the Jersey Herd-Book was started, and in 1868 
the Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Jersey 
called attention in a report to the advantageous results of 
careful breeding as practiced by Mr. Dauncey and otners 
in this country. In a subsequent report in December, 
1871, the committee acknowledged a yearly grant from the 
State of Jersey of £50, to be applied solely in premiums 
for bulls, to check the exportation of good animals from 
the island. 
In England, whole-colored Alderneys, whether dark or 
light fawn, are decidedly the most esteemed. We believe 
justly so, and in corroboration of this view we quote from 
an article by Gisborne in the Quarterly Review of 1849 and 
1850 ■: 
With few exceptions, quadrupeds in a state of nature 
are self-colored ; and we are not aware of any wild ani¬ 
mal whose colors are patchy or glaring. The British 
wild cattle are of a dingy white, with tawny ears. The 
cattle of mountainous countries, which have been very 
inaccessible to agriculture, are always of self-colors, 
black, red, or dun. The queer little cow, which within 
the memory of man had a pure existence in Normandy 
and the Channel Islands, and which, being celebrated for 
the richness of its milk, came to our markets under the 
name of an Alderney, was fawn-color with tawny ears. 
Amongst the herds maintained purely for profit, Mr. 
DumbriH’s, of Ditchling, near Brighton, is one of the 
most remarkable. Mr. Dumbrill, who has always adhered 
to the Jersey breed, keeps one hundred cows, divided 
into herds of twenty-five each, for the purpose of supply¬ 
ing his wealthy neighbors with butter and cream. In the 
Brighton market, during the two seasons, there is a de¬ 
mand for the very best of everything in the way of eating 
without regard to price. In April, 1862, Mr. Dumbrill 
read before the Farmers’ London Club a paper on “Dairy 
Management,” containing practical information of great 
value to the owners of either trade or fancy dairies. 
Another breeder of Alderneys, who bears a name almost 
classical in the history of agriculture, is Mr. C. II. Bake- 
well, of Quorndon, near Derby, who has a small but select 
herd, and which is managed in a profitable manner. His 
average annual return has been from 220 lbs. to 240_lb3. of 
butter per cow. 
This country is well off for breeds of meat-producing 
beasts, as clearly shown by your articles on Shorthorns, 
Herefords, Devons, Longhorns, and others. To breed 
Alderneys with success, in my opinion, no attempt should 
be made to combine meat-producing with milk-producing 
qualities. The Alderney breeder, therefore, must be sa¬ 
tisfied with an animal almost equal in elegance to a deer, 
rich in cream, and bountiful in butter of the finest quality. 
All, however, do not think alike, and an attempt is now 
being made in a fine herd near London to attain this ob¬ 
ject. No doubt one great drawback to the Alderney as a 
gentleman’s cow is that, when barren, it is often impos¬ 
sible to fatten her, causing thereby considerable loss. 
But from this herd last year a cow which had been milked 
for two years, was, after three months’ feeding, sold in 
Watford Market byjiuction for £26 10s. to the butcher ; 
and it remains to be proved whether or not this is an ex¬ 
ceptional case. 
Heifers kept until three years old before breeding will 
be larger in frame, but the gain in size is obtained at a 
sacrifice of dairy qualities, and with increased difficulty 
in getting them to breed. Alderney heifers should be so 
managed as to calve at not later than two years and a 
half old. 
Most of the agricultural societies are now offering 
prizes for Channel Island cattle. The Royal Agricultural 
Society has recently made classes for both the Jersey and 
the Guernsey, on the principle that Judges who prefer 
the one, may not do justice to the other. This arrange¬ 
ment will, it is to be feared, make the entries in each 
class very small, particularly so in the Guernsey class, as 
in this country Guernseys are not numerous. The Bath 
and West of England Society has of late years secured 
very good entries for its Alderney classes ; and amongst 
local shows, Essex has been successful in cultivating this 
truly elegant breed, stimulated perhaps by one or two 
local breeders, of whom the most successful exhibitor 
for the past few years, and particularly last year, was Mr. 
Walter Gilbey, whose bull “ Banboy” took first honors 
at the Royal Agricultural Show, Bath and West of England 
Show, and.the Essex Show at Romford, where also his 
cows “Duchess'” and “Milkmaid” were equally suc¬ 
cessful .—London Field. 
The Meadow-Lark or Meadow-Starling. 
Upon the first page will be found an engrav¬ 
ing from an excellent study by Mr. Herrick, 
showing Meadow-Larks of both sexes in various 
positions. This is one of the best known of all 
birds, as it is found from one. end of the coun¬ 
try to the other. While it is generally known 
in the Northern States as the Meadow-Lark,it is 
farther South called the Old-field Lark. It was 
