ninety-two shares, amounting to $25,760. The following year they made another extensive importation, which sold rapidly and well. Immense benefits have resulted from these efforts. year (1818), also, Gorham Parsons, of per share was immediately declared on the Brighton, Massachusetts, imported a pure breed short-horn bull, called "Fortunatus," or "Holderness," and his descendants were widely disseminated through New England. Another short-horn bull was brought into Massachusetts by Theodore Lyman, of Boston, from whence he was shortly after sent to Maine; and, in 1825, Mr. W. Pierce, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, imported a celebrated short-horn, "Nelson," and the cow "Symmetry," the parents of the great ox "Americus," so large as to be taken about on exhibition, for which purpose he was afterward taken to England. It was also in 1818 that Stephen Williams, of Northboro', Mass., imported the famous bull "Young Denton," the sire of many very excellent grade animals, the heifers proving fine milkers. Many other fine short-horns were taken into Massachusetts after the year 1820, but though they left some superior grades, they were not appreciated by the farmers generally, and attention was gradually directed to other breeds. New England, as a whole, is not the place for short-horns. They do better on more luxuriant pastures. Besides, they are not well adapted to the wants of the small dairy farmer, especially since the modern improvements of this justly celebrated breed have taken all the milk out of them. For a region better adapted to raising beef, and on naturally rich feed, they are unsurpassed for beauty and symmetry of form, for size and early maturity, and consequently for the profits they yield to the breeder and the grazier. In 1824, Mr. Powell, of Philadelphia, commenced the importation of short-horns, and continued to breed them with great enterprise and success for many years. He had frequent sales, some of his stock going into Kentucky, others to Ohio, and elsewhere. But the great impulse given to the importation of short-horns, was the formation of the Ohio Company for Importing English Cattle, in 1834. The sum of $9,200 was subscribed in shares of $100 each, and agents sent abroad, who returned with nineteen head, selected from the herds of celebrated breeders, arriving in October of that year. They were kept together under the care of an agent, and the number was increased by other importations till 1836, when they were sold at public auction and scattered extensively over Ohio. A dividend of $280 The sketch given above of some of the earlier importations of short-horns, has been somewhat extended for the purpose of showing the gradually increasing and extending interest and enterprise in breeding, but since 1840, importations of this magnificent breed have so far multiplied, that it would be out of place to attempt to follow them. The cream of the finest and most celebrated herds in England has been taken to this country, without regard to cost. Fabulous prices have been asked, and five and six thousand dollars for a single animal have, in some cases, been paid, to which was added the cost of transportation. So successful, indeed, have the more recent efforts been, that England has sent over here to buy short-horns from us; and so admirably adapted to stock raising is the climate of Kentucky, that this fine breed has been improved there to such an extent, that very few of the last 150 cows selected from among the best in England, could win the prizes from those born and bred on our native soil. These superior animals are not all held in the hands of a few. They are within the reach of thrifty farmers, who are now awake to the profit of raising cattle that will make as much beef at two or three years old, as a native at double that age. It is proper to refer very briefly to the efforts made at various times to introduce and experiment with the other well-established English breeds, and the success which has attended these efforts. In 1817, the Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, made an attempt to introduce the Herefords into that state, by the purchase of two bulls and two heifers, at a cost of £105, or about $500. This was the first well authenticated importation of this breed of any note. The Herefords belong to the class of middle-horned cattle, and were indigenous to certain districts of England, where they were known as far back as tradition extends. They have undergone considerable changes within the last hundred years, commencing with the efforts of Tomkins, already alluded to-not however, by means of crosses with other races, but by careful and judicious selections. In point of symmetry and beauty of form, the well-bred Herefords may be classed with the improved short-horns, arriving, perhaps, a little slower at maturity, though remarkably inclined to take on fat. They never attain to such weights, but they generally arrive at the Smithfield market at two or three years old, and so highly is their beautifully marbled beef esteemed, that it is eagerly sought by the butchers at a small advance, pound for pound, over the short-horn. Weighing less than the shorthorns, they yield a larger weight of tallow, which is one reason of the preference for them. The short-horn produces more beef at the same age than the Hereford, but consumes more food in proportion. They have never been bred for milking or dairy qualities, and no farmer would think of resorting to them for that purpose. In 1824, Admiral Coffin, of the royal navy, presented the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, a Hereford bull and heifer, bred by Sir J. G. Cottrel from the Tomkins stock. The bull was kept by the Hon. J. C. Bates, of Northampton, Mass., and left a numerous progeny, which was very highly esteemed in that neighborhood. The largest importation into this country was that of Messrs. Corning and Sotham, of Albany, N. Y., in 1840, consisting of five bulls and seventeen cows and heifers. Other importations of the same breed were added to this herd in subsequent years. The Hon. L. A. Dowley, of Boston, imported several animals of the same breed in 1852, a part of which were kept for some time on the State Farm at Westboro', Mass., and were afterward sold to Mr. John Merryman, of Baltimore Co., Md., who has one of the largest and finest herds of Herefords in the country. It will be readily seen from the characteristics of the race, as stated above, that they would be ill adapted to the wants of New England farmers as a general thing. They are profitable for the grazier; though, in a country of extreme fertility, like many parts of the west, and capable of bringing the short-horns to their highest development and perfection, they might not, on the whole, be able to compete successfully with them. The importation of Devons into this country has been more numerous. Indeed, there are some who assert that the native cattle of New England owe their origin chiefly to the Devons, since the cattle first brought into the Plymouth colony are pretty well known to have been shipped on the Devonshire coast. But that they were any thing like the modern Devons there is little evidence; they certainly have very few of the highest characteristics of that race left. The general impression has arisen mainly from the fact that many of the native cattle of New England are red, and that is the favorite color. However this may be, the improved North Devon is a very different animal from any that could, at that day, have been procured on the coast of Devonshire, or, in fact, anywhere else. This race dates further back than its history goes. It has long been bred for beef, and for the working qualities of its oxen, which, perhaps, excel all other races in quickness, docility, and beauty, and the ease with which they are matched. But as milkers the North Dev on cows do not excel, nor indeed do they equal, some of the other breeds. Some years ago a valuable importation was made by Mr. Patterson, of Baltimore, Md., who has bred them with special reference to developing their milking qualities, and now they would be remarkable as dairy stock as compared with any other pure breed, but they are very different animals from the common modern improved Devons, the dairy qualities of which have been very much disregarded. The North Devons were also imported by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, and were kept together for some time, and then disposed of. So far as size is concerned, they are better adapted to New England farms than either the short-horns or the Herefords, while the form and color are so beautiful as to make them admired by many. But the milking qualities having been to a considerable extent bred out of them, especially those more recently imported, we have little to gain by preferring them over our native stock. They are good for beef, for which purpose they are chiefly raised in their native country, but the production of beef throughout most of the older sections of the country is an entirely secondary object. They are good for labor, on account of their quickness and ease of motion, but New England has equally good working oxen in its natives. They give rich milk, but the Jerseys give richer. The Ayrshires and the Jerseys are, and have for a long time been bred with special reference to the dairy. The former, though been confined to their own intrinsic merits, nor to the actual improvement which they have effected by means of crossing upon the common stock of the country. It has led to better treatment of native stock, partly by increasing, to some extent, the interest in cattle and the knowledge of their wants and requirements, and partly from the fact that there was a general disposition among the mass of farmers to say that if the natives were kept as well, they would outstrip the fancy stock. a comparatively recent breed, were early imported into this country, and, I think, have, as a whole, proved very satisfactory, particularly as giving valuable crosses with our common stock. Grade Ayrshires are among the best animals for the use of small and dairy farms, and the cross-breds are, for all practical purposes, equal to the pure breds. One of the cows originally imported by John P. Cushing, of Massachusetts, gave in one year 3,864 quarts of milk, beer measure, being an average of over ten quarts a day for the year; and the first Ayrshire cow im- But still the improvement in the common ported by the Massachusetts Society for stock of the eastern and middle states, or Promoting Agriculture, in 1837, yielded those portions devoted to the dairy and sixteen pounds of butter a week for several other stock interests than the raising of weeks in succession on grass-feed only. Our beef, over and above what can be ascribed to climate is not so favorable to the production better treatment, has been small compared of milk as that of England and Scotland. with what it has been in those states deNo cow, imported after having arrived at voted more exclusively to grazing. During maturity, could be expected to yield as much the past ten or twelve years, for example, the under the same circumstances, as one bred live stock of Ohio has increased in valuation on the spot where the trial is made, and per--according to the official returns made to the fectly acclimated. The Ayrshire cow gen-state auditor-more than two hundred per erally gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed than a cow of any other breed. The cent., while, in the same time, no class of stock has increased in numbers one hundred per cent. A part of this, to be sure, may Within the last 25 years the Jerseys be fairly ascribed to an increased demand have been extensively imported into this for stock, and a consequent higher value, but country by the Massachusetts Society for there can be no question that intrinsically Promoting Agriculture, and by many in- better animals have superseded the inferior dividuals in New England, New York, and native stock to a considerable extent. Maryland. They have their place among number of horned cattle in that state, in us, but it is not on the majority of our 1836, was 372,866, valued at $2,982,928. farms. They give richer milk, and that In 1846 the number had increased to 920,with greater uniformity, than any other 995 head, and the valuation to $7,527,123. known breed, but the quantity is usually In 1850 the number was 1,103,811, and the small, which would not do for the milk | valuation $11,315,560. In 1868 the number dairyman. They are usually small in body, and rather large consumers. On a dairy farm devoted exclusively to the making of butter, an infusion of Jersey blood is highly desirable. One or two Jerseys in a herd of twenty will often make a perceptible difference in the quantity and richness of butter. For gentlemen in the vicinity of cities, who keep but one or two cows to supply their own table, they are also especially adapted. They have consequently multiplied rapidly in the vicinity of cities on the Atlantic seaboard. In 1853 there were, for instance, but about seventy-five pure-bred Jerseys in Massachusetts; now they number more than one thousand, while the grades are innumerable, many of them proving to be very fine. The influence which the introduction of superior foreign stock has exerted. has not was 1,496,750, and the valuation was $57,644,730. The ratio of increase in value has been greatly accelerated since the means of communication by railway have so greatly increased the facilities for information. When the first great importation and sale was made, in 1834-6-7, it was not accessible to the mass of cattle breeders, and acquired more of a local than a general reputation. What is true of Ohio is true to nearly an equal, if not even greater extent of most of the other western states. While speaking of the different objects. for which cattle are kept in various parts of the country, it may be interesting to compute the actual products, per cow, in butter and cheese in the several sections. According to the census of 1850, the average number of pounds of butter produced per cow, per annum, in the various states, was as follows: 53.7 .52.7 .50.4 .62.9 Florida.. Texas.. 8.4 California.. .15.1 Indiana.. Oregon.. Georgia. South Carolina...19.0 Winconsin ... North Carolina...20.8 Massachusetts Alabama. 26.2 Ohio.... .63.3 Arkansas Mississippi.. Tennessee. .86.2 Missouri.. ..36.8 New Hampshire.. 73.3 Kansas.. .38.3 Connecticut... Virginia.... .40.7 Pennsylvania....89.9 Rhode Island....51.9 New Jersey... Kentucky 43.4 .11.1 .73.3 51 lbs. per cow. New York, 21,618,893 in Ohio, 8,215,030 .77.0 ..77.1 Vermont. Some of the states, like New York, for instance, sell vast quantities of milk in its natural state, and yet the quantity of butter per cow will be found to be large compared with those states where cattle are kept more especially for beef. To conclude that the stock of Kentucky, Illinois, or Ohio is inferior to that of New York because the yield of butter per cow is inferior, would be preThe objects for which the stock of those states is kept are different, and for the purposes of grazing, the cattle of the western states may be far better adapted than other would be. any The exports of cheese in 1868 were 51,097,203 pounds of an invoiced value of $7,010,424. The price of both butter and cheese has greatly advanced within twenty years. The estimated average value of both, in 1850, was ten cents per pound. In 1860 this had increased to about twentyfive cents for the butter and fifteen for the cheese. The present average is not less than thirty cents for butter and about seventeen for cheese. Let us now consider the proportion of cows kept in the various states to the population. We give the proportion of milch cows in 1868, and the estimated population of that year, as the latest available, and have added the average value of cows in each state the same year. The proportion to the pop ulation is stated in decimals: Mississippi .01 2.08 2.11 STATE. Georgia.. 3.65 Maine. 0.19 0.06 $20.28 Louisiana. .05 Pennsylvania... 4.00 New Hampshire 0.21 55.00 Texas... 0.70 9.12 Florida.. .06 Utah.... 4.83 Vermont... 0.57 50.07 Arkansas Alabama.. 4.90 Massachusetts. 0.11 67.50 Tennessee. Rhode Island.. 0.10 60.00 West Virginia. 0.19 34.23 Maryland.. 5.01 Connecticut.... 0.23 66.66 Kentucky.. 0.11 36.46 Arkansas 5.40 New York.... 0.32 54.14 Missouri North Carolina.. 0.15 70.50 Illinois.. Delaware.... .26 Rhode Island.... 9.12 Pennsylvania.. 0.16 47.11 Indiana.. Delaware 0.13 40.00 Ohio... Texas.. 9.13 Maryland... 0.11 45.44 Michigan. Tennessee. .55 Maine. .12.24 Virginia.... 0.20 28.76 Wisconsin.. Kentucky Missouri.. .76 New Hampshire. 23.67 North Carolina 0.19 20.71 Minnesota. 0.31 38.53 South Carolina 0.18 23.85 lowa.. 0.35 36.13 .77 Virginia ..32.00 ... Kansas.. 1.14 New Jersey.. 1.32 1.67 New York.. Connecticut.....30.95 Massachusetts ..36.68 .... .43.21 The products from stock might be stated in another interesting point of view as follows: The northern states, comprising New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with 166,358 sq. miles, and a popu Georgia.. Florida... 0.43 15.00 Nebraska... 0.42 41.00 Alabama 0.17 21.33 California.. 0.34 50.31 lation of 10,594,168, keeping 2,615,929 milch seen in our previous sketch of the condition cows, produced, according to the census of of things during the last century, which con1860, 295,230,136 pounds of butter and tinued with slight local modifications even cheese, valued at $73,807,514. They kept, into the present century, the chief means also, 460,101 oxen, and 2,128,107 other cat- of carrying on our inland business, including tle, not, of course, including horses, sheep, or a vast amount of heavy transportation, was swine. At the same time the western states, the horse. The roads were in a most and the territories, with an area of 1,918,216 wretched condition, compared with the adsq. miles and a population of 8,535,538, had mirable roads of the present day, except, of 2,526,813 milch cows, and manufactured course, those in the more thickly settled por179,051,294 pounds of butter and cheese, tions around the larger centres of populavalued at $44,762,823. They had also 566,- tion. They were seldom built of any thing 039 oxen, and 4,348,086 other cattle. The but the natural soil thrown up from the sides, southern states, with 851,448 sq. miles, and a and often not this. The forest was felled, population of 12,240,294, had 3,040,914 and the ground left for many a thousand milch cows, and manufactured 80,925,845 miles without the precaution of making any pounds of butter and cheese, valued at $16,- side ditches at all, and over such a pathway 185,169. They also had 1,011,112 working the freight of a great part of the country oxen, and 7,450,290 other cattle. The aggre- was to be moved, in wagons made so as to gate number of neat cattle was given in 1840 be capable of the hardest usage. Over such at 14,971,586, and in 1850 at 17,778,907. roads light carriages would have been comThe amount of butter produced in 1850 was paratively useless, and a speed now seen 313,266,962 pounds, and that of cheese 105,- every day, would have been unsafe for them. 535,219 pounds; neither of which were given The mail contracts over a very large part of in 1840 as separate items. We had, in 1850, the country were made at a speed lower than 1,700,744 working oxen; and of other cattle, four and five miles an hour, and heavily 16,078,163. The entire number of milch cows loaded teams, and heavy mail and passenin 1860 was 8,581,735; of working oxen, ger coaches, kept the roads for a considera2,254,911, and of other neat cattle, 14,779,- ble part of the year in a state not calculated 373, making a total of 25,618,019. The to encourage fast driving. The farmer had amount of butter produced in 1860 was to haul his produce often long distances to 459,681,372 pounds, and of cheese 103,663,- market, and needed a heavy kind of horse. 927 pounds. These results, should be supple- Now he has a market almost at his very mented by the statistics of 1868 inasmuch door. The long line of lumbering teams as the need of provisions for the great war of is rarely seen. The old mail coach has little 1861-5, and the prevalence of cattle disease, left to do. As many horses are now rea part of the time materially lessened the quired, and even more than before, but their rate of increase of this class of live stock, work is very different. The vast improveThere were in February, 1869, in the ments in agricultural implements have also country, 9,247,714 milch cows, valued at hightened the labors of the horse. $361,752,676, and 12,185,385 oxen and wagons are of lighter construction, our other neat cattle, valued at $306,211,473, ploughs run easier, our lands are freer from making a total of 21,433,099 neat cattle, rocks and stumps, and quick, hardy horses valued at $667,964,149; a falling off of often take the place of oxen, and of the nearly 4,200,000 in the number of cattle, larger, heavier, and much slower horses of the diminution, falling wholly on working half a century ago. oxen and cattle for slaughter, since the milch cows had increased by about 666,000. HORSES. That the horses in this country have undergone a vast change and improvement during the last century-or, rather, during the last half century-there can be no doubt. A simple change in the uses to which horses are put, would naturally have produced a change in the horses themselves, without any welldirected effort at breeding. For, as we have Our The farmer or the country gentleman who is accustomed to ride in the cars at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, would not be satisfied to step out of them and have to travel at the rate of five or six miles an hour. So that the purposes for which horses are now wanted are, as a general thing, very different from what they used to be. Speed, which was formerly little required, is now considered an indispensable requisite in a good horse, and though our horses are made |