78 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March. 
Col. John Hare Powell of Philadelphia, imported a 
number of animals of the improved Short Horn breed, 
several years subsequent to 1817. He ordered his se¬ 
lections from the best herds in England, with great par¬ 
ticularity as to pedigree, form and milking qualities, 
and without stint as to price. My attention was di¬ 
rected to this stock, to procure a cross on the Short 
Horns of 1817. 
In the spring of the } T ear 1831, I procured of Mr. 
Barnitz, of York, Pennsylvania, a young bull and three 
young cows of Col. Powell’s stock. In several points, 
their forms were better than those of 1817. The cross 
was very beneficial to me. 
Some few years afterwards, David Sutton of Lexing¬ 
ton, introduced several animals of Col. Powell’s stock. 
Then other gentlemen imported cattle from Philadel¬ 
phia, and from other parts of the United States and 
from England; so that we had a number of bulls and 
cows of the best known breeds in England and in the 
United States. From this basis, intelligent gentlemen, 
with abundant capital and great skill, have continued 
to improve, by judicious crossing, until we have arrived 
at a high state of perfection, as to form and early dis¬ 
position to take on fat, points most desired of all oth¬ 
ers by the grazier and the feeder. 
Notwithstanding that Col. Powell’s stock were drawn 
from the best milking families In England, their des¬ 
cendants did not prove with us to be as good milkers as 
the stock of 1817, nor were they so healthy. 
The dairy is but a secondary consideration with a 
Kentucky farmer—beef .is more profitable, and as the 
great object of all pursuits is money , the one putting 
most in the purse will be pursued. For a dairy of cows 
where there is a demand, selling milk is most profitable 
—next cheese, if the climate suits; last, making butter. 
A Kentucky farmer in general, has no demand for milk. 
Cheese can be made here as well as any where else, 
but it costs too much labor to save it. Some writers 
say that it ought not to be relied on as a business, 
south of 40°. Butter could be made, of the best quali¬ 
ty, and in quantities, but it seems that the farmers pre¬ 
fer taking only as much milk from the cows as supplies 
their families with milk and butter, giving the remain¬ 
der to the calves. From these considerations it would 
seem that the breed of cattle bringing most money 
from the butcher at two and three years old, will have 
the preference with the grazier and the feeder, they 
using nine-tenths of the cattle bred in the state. 
It wilkbe seen from what has been stated, that great 
attention has been given to the breeding of cattle in 
this state for more, than fifty years, and the course pur¬ 
sued has been to procure the best -known breeds to 
cboss with; so that we now have an excellent breed for 
the grazier and for the feeder—forms approaching near 
and nearer to perfection, and an aptitude to take on fat 
at an early age. But in obtaining these grand objects, 
perfect forms and early maturity, so much desired by 
the grazier and the fee'der, .we have sacrificed, mainly, 
the milking qualities. 
u Whatever be the breed, there are certain conform¬ 
ations which are indispensible to the thriving and va¬ 
luable ox or cow. If there is one part of the frame, 
the form of which, more than of an other, renders the 
animal valuable, it is the chest. There must be room 
enough for the heart to beat, afid the lungs to play, or 
sufficient blood for the purposes of nutriment and of 
strength will not be circulated'—nor will it thoroughly 
undergo that vital change which is essential to the pro¬ 
per discharge of every function. Look, therefore, first 
of all, to the wide and deep girth about the heart and 
lungs; we must have both. The proportion in which 
the one or the other may preponderate, may depend on 
the service we require from the animal ; we can exeuse 
a slight degree of flatness of the sides, fpr h© will be 
lighter in the fore hand, and more active ; but the gra¬ 
zier must have breadth as well as depth , And not on¬ 
ly about the heart and lungs, but over the whole of the 
ribs must we have both length and roundness—the 
hooped as well as the deep barrel is essential - y there 
must be room for the capacious paunch, room for the 
materials from which the blood is to be provided.. The 
beast should also be ribbed home ; there should be lit¬ 
tle space between the ribs and the hips. This seems 
to be indispensible in the ox, as it regards a good heal¬ 
thy constitution, and a propensity to fatten -but a large¬ 
ness and drooping of the belly, is excusable in a cow, 
or rather, notwithstanding it diminishes the beauty of 
the animal, it leaves room for the udder; and if it is- 
also accompanied by swelling milk veins, it generally in¬ 
dicates her value in the dairy,” 
The introduction of the Patton stock into Kentucky, 
effected as much benefit to us in the improvement of 
bur cattle, in a little more than twenty, as was effected 
in England in more than sixty years . 
A printed report of a select committee of the House 
of Commons, in 1795, stated that cattle and sheep had 
increased on an average, in size and weight, about a 
fourth since 1732. 
The average weight of cattle slaughtered for the 
London market in 1830, was 656 lbs. [McCullough’& 
Dictionary of Com.] 
At Liverpool, about the same period, 
600 Irish beasts, averaged,. 720 lbs. 
140 English do. ***->•****» 730 u 
60 Scotch do. . *.610 u 
It would seem that our improved breeds exceed these 
weights. Twenty fat cows were sold in the early part 
of this month, by one drover, at Cincinnati, the aver¬ 
age weight of which was over one thousand pounds,, 
the four quarters. These cows were Kentucky bred. 
All but three had produced calves. 
I expected to receive authentic data, to state the 
average age and imgight of the four quarters of cattle 
slaughtered at Louisville, and at Cincinnati, for three 
periods. Though promised, the paper has not yet come 
to hand. 
In 1833, I took to New Orleans three bullocks, pro¬ 
duced by a cross of the cows of the Patton and Miller 
stock, by bulls of the importation of 1817. 
No. 1. Red, 6 yrs. old, live weight,. 3448 lbs. 
2. “ same age,. 3274 
3. Brindle, 4 yrs. old,.. .. 2868 
I sold these three animals together, at auction, for 
the sum of nine hundred and twenty-five dollars. 
I was at the New-York State Agricultural exhibition 
at Saratoga, in September, 1847. I very attentively 
examined the cattle stock there shown. The oxen were 
better than are generally to be met with in Kentucky j 
all others not so good.* 
The Ayrshire cattle may be -classed with our half- 
blooded Durhams, from common cows. 
We can derive no benefit from a cross of Devon 
blood. 
The diminutive size, and ill-forms ef the Alderneys, 
would exclude them from our pastures. 
•u Our climate is favorable for breeding and rearing 
cattle. They are free from any marked disease. I 
have never known an epidemic among them. 
It is the custom with some farmers, as soon as the 
corn is in the roasting ear, to cut it up, giving stalk 
and all to hogs. The hogs masticate the stalk—suck 
and swallow all the juice, throwing out the remaining 
fibrous matter, which soon becomes dry. Cattle are 
very fond of this refuse stuff; but when taken in quan¬ 
tities, it causes a derangement of the maniplus, for 
* The show of cattle at Saratoga was inferior to. any ever held 
by the N. Y. State Ag. Soe., a»d should not be taken as a fair re* 
presentation of ttte character of the stock of the State. Eos. 
