CATTLE

323

CATTLE—(Continued.)

Cattle In Early History.............. 223

Continental and South American.....224

Escutcheon, the......................229

Europe, in :

Ayrshires........................... 226

Devons, the North................. 226

Habitat of Holsteins................ 227

Herefords, the..................... 225

Holsteinsat Home................. 228

Holstein Cattle....... ............ 227

Holsteins in Seventeenth Century.. 228

Jerseys, the........................ 226

Kyloes, the....................... 227

North Devons, the................. 226

Scotch Breeds...................... 226

Shetland Cattle.................... 227

Short-Horns, the................... 225

Suffolk Duns....................... 226

Welsh Cattle....................... 227

West Highland Cattle............. 227

Guenon, Fran90is................... 229

Humped Cattle..................... 223

In Mythology and Religion.......... 223

Less Common Uses.................. 224

Magne, Prof......................... 230

Milk-Mirror, the..................... 229

Mirror, the Milk-.................... 229

Naming of Cattle.................... 244

Once a medium of Exchange.........  223

“ Paster,” the........................  243

Services, their.......................  223

Survivals............................  224

Uncertainty of Records.............  243

United States, in the:

Angus, the Polled .................  237

Ayrshires, Milk Record of.........  235

Ayrshires, the.............,........  235’

Beef...............................   231

Campbell Sale, the................   233

Census Returns..................  231

Claims for Ayrshires...............  235

Comparative Value of Points......  239

Comparisons......................  242

Cow Echo..................... 231, 242

Cow Value 2d......................  238

Dairy..............................  231

Description of Jerseys..............  238

Echo Farm.......................  237

Greatest Weekly Butter-Yield......  238

Hereford Cow, the.................   233

Hereford Ox, the...................  233

Herefords for Beef.................  232

Herefords, the.....................  232

Holsteins, Milk sold...............  242

Holstein Points....................  243

Holsteins, the......................  240

United States, in the :—Cont'd.

Importation of Herefords.......... 23a

Introduction of Holsteins.......... 240

Jersey Cattle....................... 237

Jerseys To­day.................... 238

Lady Seffinga...................... 240

Milk Records of Ayrshires......... 245

One Instance of Fattening......... 242

Oxen, Working.................... 231

Performance of Holsteins here..... 240

Points of Herefords................ 233

Points of Jerseys................... 238

Points of Holsteins................243

Polled Angus, the.................. 237

Polled Cattle....................... 236

Rationale of Short-Horns.......... 234

Sales of Polled Cattle.............. 237

Sale, the Campbell...............233

Sample Importation, a.............240

Short-Horns........................ 233

Short-Horns for Dairy............. 234

Short-Horns, Proper Home........ 234

Short-Horns, Rationale of......... 234

Status of Different Breeds........242

Value 2d........................... 238

Working Oxen..................... 231

Urus, the............................ 224

In Early History,—This is a term applied to the
various races of domesticated animals belonging
to the genus Bos. They have been divided into
two primary groups, the humped cattle, or zebus
(Bos indicus), of India and Africa, and the straight-
backed cattle ( Bos taurus), which are common
everywhere. By many naturalists these groups
have been regarded as mere races of the same
species, and it is a well-ascertained fact that the
offspring arising from the crossing of the humped
and unhumped cattle are completely fertile; but
the differences in their osteology, configuration,
voice and habits are such as to leave little doubt
of their specific distinctness. Oxen appear to
have been among the earliest of domesticated
animals, as they undoubtedly were among the
most important agents in the growth of early
civilization. They are mentioned in the oldest
Written records of the Hebrew and Hindu peo­
ples, and are figured on Egyptian monuments
raised 2000 years before the Christian era; while
the remains of domesticated specimens have been
found in the Swiss lake-dwellings along with the
stone implements and other records of Neolithic
man.

Once a Medium of Exchange.—In infant commu­
nities an individuals wealth was measured by the
number and size of his herds—Abram, it it said,
was rich in cattle ; and oxen for a long period
formed, as they still do among many Central

African tribes, the favorite medium of exchange
between nations. After the introduction of a
metal coinage into ancient Greece, the former
method of exchange was commemorated by
stamping the image of an ox on the new money;
while the same custom has left its mark on the
languages of Europe, as is seen in the Latin word
pecunia, and the English “pecuniary,” derived
from pecus, cattle.

In Mythology and Religion.—The value attached to
cattle in ancient times is further shown by the
Bull figuring among the signs of the zodiac; in
its worship by the ancient Egyptians under the
title of Apis ; in the veneration which has always
been paid to it by the Hindus, according to
whose sacred legends it was the first animal cre­
ated by the three divinities who were directed by
the supreme Deity to furnish the earth with ani­
mated beings ; and in the important part it was
made to play in Greek and Roman mythology.
The Hindus were not allowed to shed the blood
of the ox, and the Egyptians could only do so in
sacrificing to their gods. Both Hindus and Jews
were forbidden, in their sacred writings, to muzzle
it when treading out the corn ; and to destroy it
wantonly was considered a public crime among
the Romans, punishable with exile.

Humped Cattle are found in greatest perfection in
India, but they extend eastward to Japan, and
westward to the African Niger. They differ from

224                                                    THE FRIEND OF ALL.

the European forms not only in the fleshy pro­
tuberance in the shoulders, but in the number of
sacral vertebrae, in the character of their voice,
which has been described as “grunt-like,” and
also in their habits; “they seldom seek the
shade, and never go into the water and there
stand knee-deep like the cattle of Europe.” They
now exist only in the domesticated state, and ap­
pear to have been brought under the dominion
of man at a very remote period, all the repre­
sentations of the ox on such ancient sculptures
as those in the caves of Elephanta being ot the
humped or zebu form. There are several breeds
of the zebu, the finest occurring in the northern
provinces of India, where they are used for
riding,—carrying, it is said, a man at the rate of
six miles an hour for fifteen hours. White bulls
are held peculiarly sacred by the Hindus, and
when they have been dedicated to Siva, by the
branding upon them of his image, they are
thenceforth relieved from all labor. They go
without molestation wherever they choose, and
may be seen about Eastern bazars helping them­
selves to whatever dainties they prefer at the
stalls of the faithful.

Less Common Uses.—The Hottentots and Kaffres
possess several valuable breeds, as the Namaqua
and Bechwana cattle, the latter with horns which
sometimes measure over thirteen feet from tip
to tip along the curvature. The cattle of those
semi - barbarous South - Africans appear to be
among the most intelligent of their kind,—cer­
tain of them, known as backleys, having been
trained to watch the flocks, preventing them
from straying beyond fixed limits, and protecting
them from the attacks of wild beasts and from
robbers. They are also trained to fight, and are
said to rush into battle with the spirit of a war-
horse. Among the Swiss mountains there are
herds of cows, whose leaders are adorned with
bells, the ringing of which keeps the cattle to­
gether, and guides the herdsman to their pasture-
grounds. The wearing of the bells has come to
be regarded as an honorable distinction by the
cows, and no punishment is felt so keenly as the
loss of them, the culprit giving expression to her
sense of degradation by the most piteous lowings.

Their Services.—It is impossible to over-estimate
their services to the human race. Living, the
ox—taking that name as the representative of
Bos—plows its owner's land, and reaps his har­
vest, carries his goods or himself, guards his
property, even fights his battles, while its udder,
which under domestication has been enormously
enlarged, yields him at all seasons a copious sup­
ply of milk, butter and cheese. When dead, its
flesh forms a chief class of animal food ; its bones
are ground into manure or turned into numerous
articles of use or ornament; its skin is made into

leather, its ears and hoofs into glue; its hair is
mixed with mortar; and its horns are cut and
molded into various articles of use.

The Urus.—The most important ancestor of our
present domestic cattle, in Europe and America,
was the Urus (Bos primigenius). Cæsar describes
it as existing in his time, in the Hercynian Fo­
rest, in size almost as large as an elephant, but
with the form and color of a bull; and it is men­
tioned by Heberstein so late as the 16th century
as still a favorite beast of chase. The Urus was
characterized by its flat or slightly concave fore­
head, its straight occipital ridge, and the pecu­
liar curvature of its horns. Its immense size
may be gathered from the fact that a skull in the
British Museum, found near Atholl, in Perth­
shire, measures one yard in length, while the
span of the horn-cores is three feet six inches.

Survivals.—British wild cattle now exist only in
a few parks, where they are strictly preserved.
The purest bred are those of Chillingham, a
park in Northumberland, belonging to the Earl
of Tankerville, and which was in existence in the
13th century. These have red ears with brown­
ish muzzle, and show all the characteristics of
wild animals. They hide their young, feed in
the night, basking or sleeping during the day;
they are fierce when pressed, but, generally speak­
ing, very timorous, moving off on the appearance
of any one even at a great distance. The bulls
engage in fierce contests for the leadership of
the herd, and the wounded are set upon by the
others and killed ; thus few bulls attain a great
age, and even those, when they grow feeble, are
gored to death by their fellows. The white cat­
tle of Cadzow Forest are very similar in their
habits to those of Chillingham, but being con­
fined to a narrow area are less wild. They still
form a considerable herd, but of late years, it has
been stated, they have all become polled, or horn­
less. Sir Walter Scott maintained that Cadzow
and Chillingham are but the extremities of what
in earlier times was a continuous forest, and that
the white cattle are but the remnants of those
herds of “tauri sylvestres” described by early
Scottish writers as abounding in the forests of
Caledonia, and to which he evidently refers in
these lines:

“ Mightiest of all the beasts of chase
That roam in woody Caledon,
Crashing the forest in his race,
The mountain bull comes thundering on.”

Continental and South American Cattle.—Of these
the Hungarian is conspicuous from its great size,
and the extent of its horns, which often measure
five feet from tip to tip. The cattle of Friesland,
Jutland and Holstein form another large breed,
and these, it is said, were introduced by the

CATTLE.                                                                         225

Goths into Spain, thus becoming the progenitors
of the enormous herds of wild cattle which now
roam over the Pampas of South America. Co­
lumbus in 1493 brought to America a bull and
several cows. Others were brought by succeed­
ing Spanish settlers. They are now widely
spread over the plains of South America, but
are most numerous in the temperate districts of
Paraguay and La Plata—a fact which bears out
the view taken by Darwin, that our oxen are the
descendants of species originally inhabiting a
temperate climate. Except in greater uniformity
of color, which is dark-reddish brown, the Pam­
pas cattle have deviated but little from the an­
cestral Andalusian type. They roam in great
herds in search of pasture, under the leadership
of the strongest bulls, and avoid man, who hunts
them chiefly for the value of their hides, of which
enormous quantities are exported annually from
Buenos Ayres. They are, however, readily re­
claimed ; the wildest herds, according to Prof.
Low, being often domesticated in a month.
These cattle have hitherto been chiefly valued
for their hides, and as supplying animal food to
the inhabitants, who use only the choicest parts ;
but lately attempts have been made, and with
considerable success, to export the beef in a pre­
served state. Although the South American
cattle have sprung from a single European breed,
they have already given rise to many well marked
varieties, as the polled cattle of Paraguay, the
hairless breed of Colombia, and that most mon­
strous of existing breeds, the Natas, two herds
of which Darwin saw on the banks of the Plata,
and which he describes as “bearing the same
relation to other cattle as bull or pug dogs do to
other dogs.” Cattle have been introduced by
the colonists into Australia and New Zealand,
where they are now found in immense herds,
leading a semi-wild existence on the extensive
“ runs” of the settlers.

BREEDS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Taking up the most important of these breeds,
and without entering into curious speculation on
their origin, we will notice them in what seems a
natural order. The first place belongs to

The Short-Morns.—It appears that from an early
date the valley of the Tees possessed a breed of
cattle which, in appearance and general qualities,
were probably not unlike the quasi short­horns
which are now so plenty. A Mr. Waistell of
Allihill admired a certain bull, Hubback, but
hesitated to buy him at the high price of 8l. He
joined with a Mr. Colling in the purchase. After­
wards they sold to another Colling, who confined
the bull to his own stock, refusing his use to
even one of Mr. Waistell's cows. The Collings
entered on their work of improvement at a very
15

favorable time, and with promising materials
ready to their hands. But these materials seemed
with them at once to acquire an unwonted plas­
ticity ; for in a very short time their cattle ex­
hibited, in a degree that has hardly yet been
excelled, that combination of rapid and large
growth with aptness to fatten, of which their
symmetry, good temper, mellow handling and
gay colors are such pleasing indices and accom­
paniments, and for which they have acquired a
world­wide celebrity. These Durham, Tees-
water or Short-Horn cattle, as they were variously
called, were soon eagerly sought after, and
spread with amazing rapidity. For a time their
merits were disputed by the eager advocates of
other and older breeds, some of which they have
utterly supplanted, while others, such as the
Herefords, Devons and Scotch polled cattle,
have each their zealous admirers, who still main­
tain their superiority to the younger race.

But this controversy is getting practically de­
cided in favor of the Short-Horns, which con­
stantly encroach upon their rivals, even in their
head­quarters, and seldom lose ground which
they once gain. Paradoxical as the statement
appears, it is yet true that the very excellence of
the Short-Horns has in many cases led to their
discredit. Many persons desiring to possess
them, and yet grudging the cost of pure­bred
bulls, have used worthless cross-bred males, and
so have filled the country with an inferior race
of cattle, bearing indeed a general resemblance
in color, and partaking in some measure of the
good qualities of Short-Horns, but utterly want­
ing in their peculiar excellences. By ignorant
or prejudiced persons the genuine race is never­
theless held answerable for the defects of the
mongrels which usurp their name, and for the
damaging comparisons which are made between
them and choice specimens of other breeds.
That the Short-Horn should spread as it does,
in spite of this hinderance, is no small proof of
its inherent excellence, and warrants the infe­
rence that it will take its place as the one appro­
priate breed of the fertile and sheltered parts of
Great Britain.

The Hereford is the breed which in England
contests most closely with the Short-Horns the
palm of excellence. They are admirable grazier‘s
cattle, and when of mature age and fully fattened­
present exceedingly level, compact and massive
carcasses of excellent beef. But the cows are
poor milkers, and the oxen require to be at
least two years old before being put up to fatten
—defects fatal to the claims put forward in their
behalf. To the grazier who purchases them
when their growth is somewhat matured they
usually yield a good profit, and will generally
excel Short-Horns of the same age. But the

226

THE FRIEND OF ALL.

distinguishing characteristic of the latter is that,
when properly treated, they get sufficiently fat
and attain to remunerative weights at, or even
under, two years old. If they are kept lean
until they have reached that age, their peculiar
excellence is lost. From the largeness of their
frame they then cost more money, consume
more food, and yet do not fatten more rapidly
than bullocks of slower growing and more com­
pactly formed breeds. It is thus the grazier fre­
quently gives his verdict in favor of Herefords as
compared with Short-Horns. Even under this
mode of management Short-Horns will usually
yield at least as good a return as their rivals to
the breeder and grazier conjointly. But if fully
fed from their birth so as to bring into play their
peculiar property of growing and fattening simul­
taneously, they will yield a quicker and better
return for the food consumed by them than
cattle of any other breed. These remarks apply
equally to another breed closely allied to the
Herefords, viz.,

The North Devons, so much admired for their
pleasing color, sprightly gait and gentle temper,
qualities which fit them beyond all other cattle
for the labor of the field. If it could be proved
that ox-power is really more economical than
horse­power for any stated part of the work of
the farm, then the Devons, which form such ad­
mirable draught-oxen, would be deserving of
general cultivation. It is found, however, that
when agriculture reaches a certain stage of pro­
gress, ox-labor is inadequate to the more rapid
and varied operations that are called for, and has
to be superseded by that of horses.

Scotch Breeds.—These indigenous breeds of
heavy cattle are for the most part black and
hornless. Prominent among them are the Aber­
deen, the Angus and the Galloway. These are
all valuable breeds, being characterized by good
milking and grazing qualities, and by a hardiness
which peculiarly adapts them to a bleak climate.
Cattle of these breeds, when they have attained
to three years old, fatten very rapidly, acquire
great size and weight of carcass, and yield beef
unsurpassed in quality.

The cows of these breeds, when coupled with
a Short-Horn bull, produce an admirable cross-
breed, which combines largely the good qualities
of both parents. The great saving of time and
food which is effected by the earlier maturity of
the cross-breed has induced a very extensive
adoption of this practice in all the north-eastern
counties of Scotland. Such a system is neces­
sarily inimical to the improvement of the pure
native breeds; but when cows of the cross-breed
are continuously coupled with pure Short-Horn
bulls, the progeny in a few generations becomes
assimilated to the male parent, and are charac­

terized by a peculiar vigor of constitution and
excellent milking yield in the cows. With such
native breeds to work upon, and this aptitude to
blend thoroughly with the Short-Horn breed, it
is much more profitable to introduce the latter in
this gradual way of continuous crossing than at
once to substitute the one pure breed for the
other. The cost of the former plan is much
less, as there needs but the purchase from time
to time of a good bull, and the risk is incom­
parably less, as the stock is acclimatized from
the first, and there is no danger from a wrong
selection. The greater risk of miscarriage in
this mode of changing the breed is from the
temptation to which, from mistaken economy,
the breeder is exposed of rearing a cross-bred
bull himself, or purchasing a merely nominal
Short-Horn bull from others.

The Ayrshires stand in the front rank in Great
Britain, as profitable dairy cattle. From the
pains which have been taken to develop their
milk-yielding power, it is now of the highest
order. Persons conversant only with grazing
cattle cannot but be surprised at the strange
contrast between an Ayrshire cow in full milk
and the forms of cattle which they have been
used to regard as most perfect. Her wide pelvis,
deep flank and enormous udder, with its small
wide-set teats, seem out of all proportion to her
fine bone and slender fore-quarters. The breed
possess little merit for grazing purposes. Useful
results are obtained by crossing these cows with
a Short-Horn bull, and this practice is gaining
ground. But the function of the Ayrshire cattle
is the dairy. For this they are unsurpassed,
either as respects the amount of produce yielded
by them in proportion to the food which they
consume, or the faculty which they possess of
converting the herbage of poor exposed soils,
such as abound in their native district, into
butter and cheese of the best quality.

The Suffolk Duns.—These are a polled breed of
cattle, the prevailing color of which is dun or
pale red, for whose dairy produce the county of
Suffolk has long been celebrated. They have a
strong general resemblance to the Scotch polled
cattle, but nevertheless seem indigenous to Suf­
folk. They are ungainly in their form and of
little repute with the grazier, but possess an un­
doubted capacity of yielding a large quantity of
milk in proportion to the food which they con­
sume. They are now encroached upon by, and will
probably give place to, the Short­ Horns, by which
they are decidedly excelled for the combined
purposes of the dairy and the fattening-stall.

The Jerseys.—Four little islands lie off the
north-west coast of France near Cherbourg,
called the Channel Islands, belonging to Great
Britain, the only parts of Normandy she has left.

CATTLE.

227

These islands are four, Jersey, Guernsey, Alder-
ney and Sark, the last a very small one, and the
whole group has an area of only 73 square miles,
and a population in 1871 of a little more than
90,000. Yet from this little group come the
names Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey, names as
familiar as household words in cattle and dairy
matters. These cattle are so remarkable for the
choice quality of the cream and butter obtained
from their rather scanty yield of milk, that they
are eagerly sought after for private dairies, in
which quality of produce is more regarded than
quantity. The rearing of heifers for the English
market is of such importance to these islands
that very stringent regulations have been
adopted for insuring the purity of their peculiar
breed. These cattle in general are utterly worth­
less for the purposes of the grazier. The choicer
specimens of the Jersey have a certain deer-like
form which gives them a pleasing aspect. In
fact, in their native island there is a tradition
that ascribes their progenitors to some mysteri­
ous cross with a deer, and their large, round,
lustrous eyes lend credence to the conjecture.
The race, as a whole, bear striking resemblance
to the Ayrshires, which are alleged to owe their
peculiar excellences to an early admixture of
Jersey blood.

The Jersey cattle will claim large attention
under Cattle in the United States.

The Kyloes, or West Highland cattle, are a moun­
tain breed, widely diffused over the Highlands of
Scotland, but are found in the greatest perfection
in the larger Hebrides. Well-bred oxen of this
breed, when of mature growth and in good con­
dition, exhibit a symmetry of form and noble
bearing unequaled among British cattle. Al­
though somewhat slow in arriving at maturity,
they are contented with the coarsest fare, and
ultimately get fat where the daintier Short-
Horns could barely exist. Their hardy constitu­
tion, thick mellow hide, and shaggy coat, pecu­
liarly adapt them for a cold humid climate and
coarse pasturage. The milk of these cows is
very rich, but as they yield it in small quantity,
and soon go dry, they are unsuited for the dairy,
and are kept almost solely for the purpose of
suckling each her own calf. The calves are
generally housed during the first winter, but
after that they shift for themselves out of doors
the whole year round. Vast droves of these
cattle are annually transferred to the lowlands,
where they are in request for their serviceable-
ness in consuming profitably the produce of
coarse pastures and the leavings of daintier
stock. When of a dun or tawny color, they have a
picturesque look grazing in a park with deer.
There is a strong family likeness between them
and the

Welsh Cattle, which is what might be expected
from the many features, physical and historical,
which the two provinces have in common. Al­
though the cattle of Wales are obviously, as a
whole, of common origin, they are yet ranged
into several groups, which owe their distinctive
features either to peculiarities of soil and
climate or to intermixture with other breeds.
The Pembrokes may be taken as the type of the
mountain groups. These are hardy cattle, which
thrive on scanty pasturage and in a humid cli­
mate. They excel the West Highlanders in this
respect, that they make good dairy cattle, the
cows being peculiarly adapted for a small farmer's
purposes. When fattened they yield beef of ex­
cellent quality. Their prevailing and most es­
teemed color is black, with deep orange on the
naked parts. The Anglesea cattle are larger and
coarser than the Pembrokes, and those of Merio­
neth and the higher districts are smaller­ and
inferior to them in every respect. The county
of Glamorgan possesses a peculiar breed, bearing
its name, which has long been in estimation for
combined grazing and dairy purposes. It has
latterly been so much encroached upon by Here-
fords and Short Horns that there seems some
likelihood of its becoming extinct, which will be
cause for regret unless pains are taken to occupy
its place with cattle not inferior to it in dairy
qualities.

The Shetland Cattle are the most diminutive in
the world. The carcass of a Shetland cow, when
fully fattened, scarcely exceeds in weight that of
a long-wooled wether. These little creatures
are, however, excellent milkers in proportion to
their size; they are very hardy, are contented
with the scantiest pasturage, come early to ma­
turity, are easily fattened, and their beef surpasses
that of all other breeds for tenderness and deli­
cacy of flavor. The diminutive cows of this
breed are not unfrequently coupled with Short-
Horn bulls, and the progeny from such apparently
preposterous unions not only possess admirable
fattening qualities,but approximate in bulk to their
sires. These curious and handsome little creatures,
apparently of Scandinavian origin, are so peculi­
arly fitted to the circumstances of their bleak and
stormy habitat, that the utmost pains ought to
be taken to preserve the breed in purity, and to
improve it by judicious treatment.

HOLSTEIN CATTLE.
Their Habitat.—John Weiss tells of “the way in
which the Dutch people were prepared to main­
tain liberty of thought and worship. A poor
Frisian race was selected, and kept for centuries
up to its knees in the marshes through which
the Rhine emptied and lost itself. Here it lived
in continual conflict with the Northern Ocean.

228

THE FRIEND OF ALL.

forced literally to hold the tide at arm's length, I
while a few acres of dry land might yield a scanty
subsistence.” From the land thus rescued from
the German Ocean, come the cattle known as
Dutch, Dutch-Frisian, and Holstein, the latter
name being perhaps that most generally em­
ployed. The Holstein Herd-Book affirms that
“the present large improved black-and-white
cattle of North Holland, Friesland and Olden­
burg, which all possess the same general charac­
teristics, yet present in the different localities
some slight dissimilarity, and have perhaps been
brought to the highest degree of perfection in
the first-named province, undoubtedly descended
from the original stock of Holstein.”

In the Seventeenth Century.—In this century, as
represented by Motley in his History of the
United Netherlands, the cattle interest in Hol­
land had become of prime importance to the
people, and was in the most thrifty condition. He
says : “ On that scrap of solid ground, rescued
by human energy from the ocean, were the most
fertile pastures in the world. An ox often weighed
more than two thousand pounds. The cows pro­
duced two or three calves at a time, and the
sheep four or five lambs. In a single village, four
thousand kine were counted. Butter and cheese
were exported to the annual value of a million ;
salted provisions to an incredible extent. The
farmers were industrious, thriving and indepen­
dent. It is an amusing illustration of the agri­
cultural thrift and republican simplicity of this
people that on one occasion a farmer proposed
to Prince Maurice that he should marry his
daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hun­
dred thousand florins.” And one can well ima­
gine that the farmer's daughter, when the august
head of John of Barneveldt rolled from the heads­
man's axe, rejoiced that her blood had not been
mingled with that of Maurice : in this and other
transactions anything but a Prince.

In the Nineteenth Century, and at Home.—Prof.
Roberts, before the New York Dairyman's Asso­
ciation, says: “ I had the good fortune, during
the past summer, to spend some time in North
Holland and Friesland, a country usually ignored
by the tourist, though full of instructive sights
and quaint old customs. Here in ancient grass-
bottomed lakes, snatched from the inroads of
the sea, by the greatest skill and labor the world
has ever known, I found the ideal milk-producer.
Situated in a level, rich, moist country well
adapted to the production of forage-grasses,
with a climate cool but equable in summer, but
raw, windy and cold in winter; here, favored yet
unfavored by nature, these clean, plain, intelligent
Dutch have reduced to a science the economical
production of milk. Of course this could not be
done without a good cow; and if anywhere on \

the face of the globe there exists a race of uniformly
good milkers, the Dutch have them. I care not
what a man's prejudices be, whether an admirer
of the fawn-eyed Jersey, or (like myself) of that
grand old breed the Short-Horn, the stately Here­
ford or the piebald Ayrshire, if he really admire
a good cow, he cannot help falling in love with
the picturesque Holstein, as seen in its native
pastures in the north countries. He may return
to his American home and conclude that his cir­
cumstances are better adapted to some other
breed, but he will ever after speak of them only
with praise.

“ I have said they were a race of good milkers;
and I think I have not put it too strong when I
say truthfully, that neither from Beemster Polder
northward, nor in Friesland, did I see what
might be called a poor cow or an old cow,
though I saw many hundreds.

“ Here is a people, occupying lands which are
seldom sold for less than five hundred dollars per
acre, more frequently for a thousand, and up­
wards, producing butter and cheese, and placing
it on the European market in successful compe­
tition with that produced on lands of less than a
tenth of their value. With these facts staring us
in the face it looks quite possible that we might
learn something of more economical production,
from these miscalled dumb Dutch, notwithstand­
ing they still cut their grass by hand, have no
tongues or thills to their farm-wagons, and wear
wooden shoes. Without a herd-book, till quite
recently, and without any great leaders or im­
provers in cattle-breeding as found in Bakewell,
Colling, Bates and Booth of England, these quiet
people have, by common sense and universal
methods, long since formed a distinct breed of
cattle that surpasses, in their locality, all others
so far as tried. Jerseys have been introduced, but
cannot secure a footing. Here and there at long
intervals we find an effort has been made to im­
prove by a cross of the English bull, but, so far
as I could learn, deterioration in milking qualities
has resulted with but slight compensating im­
provement in beef qualities. The details of the
ancient breeding and management of the Hol-
steins have not been handed down to us, as that
of the Short-Horns; but from the location and
habits of the people we may fairly infer that they
differed but slightly if at all from those of modern
times. Having unusually fine facilities, I tried
to study carefully their present methods, and also
their results.

“ In the first place, but few bulls are kept, and
these but for two or three years at most, when
they are sold in the market for beef. These
bulls are selected with the utmost care, invariably
being the calves of the choicest milkers. But
little attention is paid to fancy points or colon

CATTLE.                                                                 229

though dark spotted is preferred to light spotted,
though more attention is now being paid to
color in order to suit American customers. All
other bull-calves with scarce an exception are
sold as veals, bringing about one and a half times
as much as with us. In like manner the heifer
calves are sold except about twenty per cent,
which are also selected with care and raised on
skimmed milk. The age of the cow is usually
denoted by the number of her calves, and in no
case did I find a cow that had had more than six
calves, usually only four or five. Their rule is to
breed so that the cow‘s first calf is dropped in the
stable before the dam is two years old, in order
that extra care and attention may be given.
There are other objects gained by this method;
for should the heifer fall below their high stan­
dard she goes to the butcher before another win­
tering, and though she brought little profit to the
dairy she will more than pay for her keeping, at
the block.

“ Here we find a threefold method of selection.
First, in the sire; second, in the young calf,
judged largely by the milking qualities of the
dam ; and lastly is applied the greatest of all
tests, performance at the pail; and not till she
answers this satisfactorily is she accorded a per­
manent place in the dairy.

“ The cows, no matter how good, are seldom
kept till they become ‘ old worn-out shells,’ val­
ueless for beef, and not fit to propagate their
kind, but are sold for beef while they are vigorous
enough to put on flesh, profitable alike to pro­
ducer and consumer, and of no mean quality. I
ate it for three weeks, and the English beef for
two, and while not so fat as the Short-Horn, it
was to my taste superior.

“ My experience is not extended enough to
justify me in saying that they are the best breed
for us, all things considered, but I believe them
to be.”

Requirements at Home.—“ The principles on which
they practice, in selecting a cow to breed from,
are as follows: She should have considerable
size, not less than four and a half or five feet
girth, with a length of body corresponding; legs
proportionately short; a finely formed head, with
a forehead or face somewhat concave; clear,
large, mild and sparkling eyes, yet with no ex­
pression of wildness; tolerably large and stout
ears, standing out from the head; fine, well-
curved horns; a rather short than long, thick,
broad neck, well set against the chest and with­
ers ; the front part of the chest and the shoulders
must be broad and fleshy; the low-hanging dew­
lap must be soft to the touch ; the back and loins
must be properly projected, somewhat broad, the
bones not too sharp, but well covered with flesh;
the animal should have long curved ribs, which

form a broad breast­bone; the body must be
round and deep, but not sunken into a hanging
belly; the rump must not be uneven ; the hip-
bones should not stand out too broad and spread­
ing, but all the parts should be level and well
filled up; a fine tail, set moderately high up, and
tolerably long but slender, with a thick, bushy
tuft of hair at the end, hanging down below the
hocks; the legs must be short and low, but strong
in the bony structure; the knees broad, with flexi­
ble joints; the muscles and sinews must be firm
and sound ; the hoof broad and flat, and the
position of the legs natural, not too close and
crowded; the hide, covered with fine, glossy hair,
must be soft and mellow to the touch, and set
loose upon the body. A large, rather long, white
and loose udder, extending well back, with four
long teats, serves, also, as a characteristic mark
of a good milch-cow. Large and prominent milk-
veins must extend from the navel back to the
udder; the belly of a good milch-cow should not
be too deep and hanging.”

THE ESCUTCHEON, OR MILK-MIRROR.

Francois Guenon, a native of Libourne, France,
who became a cattle-dealer in 1822, discovered
and perfected a system for learning the value of
a cow as a milker, by observing her escutcheon,
or milk-mirror, as it is often called, extending, in
the best animals, from the root of the tail, down
over the udder and behind the thighs. In 1837
the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux appointed
a committee to investigate the worth of this sys­
tem. That committee reported :

“ Every cow subjected to examination was sepa­
rated from the rest. What M. Guenon had to say
in regard to her was taken down in writing by
one of the committee ; and immediately after, the
proprietor, who had kept at a distance, was inter­
rogated, and such questions put to him as would
tend to confirm or disprove the judgment pro­
nounced by M. Guenon. In this way we have
examined in the most careful manner—note being
taken of every fact and every observation made by
any one present—upwards of sixty cows and hei­
fers ; and we are bound to declare that every state­
ment made by M. Guenon, with respect to each of
them, whether it regarded the quantity of milk,
or the time during which the cow continued to
give milk after being got with calf, or, finally, the
quality of the milk as being more or less creamy
or serous, was confirmed, and its accuracy fully
established. The only discrepancies which oc­
curred were some slight differences in regard to
quantity of milk ; but these, as we afterwards
fully satisfied ourselves, were caused entirely by
the food of the animal being more or less
abundant.”

Their conclusion is now substantially accepted.

230

THE FRIEND OF ALL.

The system must be applied “with brains, sir;”
and so applied it has come to be of the greatest
value to the seeker for milk.

Guenon claimed for his system that it deter­
mined :

1. The quantity of milk which a cow would
yield.

2.  The period which she would continue in
milk.

3.  The quality of her milk.

His description of the escutcheon is : “ This
mark consists of the figure, on the posterior parts
of the animal, formed by the meeting of the hair
that grows or points in different directions, the
line of junction of these different growths of hair

Escutcheon of Lady Mid would, imported from North
Holland, by Winthrop W. Chenery.

constituting the outline of the figure, or escutch­
eon. His system exhibits 27 different diagrams
of varying grades of milking qualities, each grade
with what he calls a “bastard “ escutcheon. He
uses this word “to denote those cows which give
milk only so long as they have not been got in
with calf anew, and which, upon this happening,
go dry all of a sudden or in the course of a few
days. Cows of this kind are found in each of the
classes, and in every order of the class. Some of
them are great milkers, but, so soon as they have
got with calf, their milk is gone. Others present
the most promising appearance, but their yield is
very insignificant.”

The hair indicating a good milker turns up­
ward, is short and fine, and presents peculiar oval
marks, or scurf-spots. The skin over this whole
surface is easily raised, and is especially soft and
fine in good milkers. Guenon‘s theory is that
the more that upward growth of hair extends
outward from the udder and inner parts of the
thighs, and upward towards the urinary passage
from the bladder, the better milker the cow is;.
and as the hair fails to extend upward and out­
ward, in these directions, the less is she a good
milker.

The rationale of the system, according to an­
other French authority, Prof. Magne, of Alfort, is:

“ The relations existing between the direction
of the hair of the perinæum, and the activity of
the milky glands, cannot be disputed. Large
lower tufts are marks of good cows, whereas tufts
near the vulva are observed on cows which dry
up shortly after they are again in calf.

“But what is the cause of these relations?
What connection can there be between the hair
of the perinæum and the functions of the milky
glands? The direction of the hair is subordinate
to that of the arteries; when a large plate of hair
is directed from below, upward, on the posterior
face of the udder, and on the twist, it proves that
the arteries which supply the milky system are
large, since they pass backwards beyond it, con­
vey much blood, and consequently give activity
to its functions. Upper tufts, placed on the sides
of the vulva, prove that the arteries of the genera­
tive organs are strongly developed, reach even to
the skin, and give great activity to those organs.
The consequence is, that after a cow is again in
calf, they draw off the blood which was flowing
to the milky glands, lessen, and even stop the
secretion of milk.

“In the bull, the arteries, corresponding to the
mammary arteries of the cow, being intended
only for coverings of the testicles, are very
slightly developed ; and there, accordingly, the
escutcheons are of small extent.”

While many dispute the value of the system in
its entirety, and even adduce instances in which
the facts seem diametrically opposed to the
theory of M. Guenon, the general verdict is, that,
like phrenology, there is a great deal in it, and
that the escutcheons of both cows and bulls pre
sent evidence which no intelligent farmer or
breeder can afford to disregard. The investiga­
tion has been from the start a fascinating one;
and any reader who will go into it, studying the
system in all the lights he can have access to, and
trying it by all the facts within his reach, will
find that the interest will not diminish as he
goes on.

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