New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-02-09
AGRICULTURAL.
BREEDS OF DOMESTIC CATTLE. II.

4 vi neat cdtllt, NEcIt INC WOEu Thoroughbred IS
made use Of no claim is put forth in behalf Of any
one family or variety, OF possessing an absolute,
original blood Ike that Of The thoroughbred horse
| of Oriental, IN which are included Arab, Barb,
Turk, Syrian and Persian blood, which is superior
TO any other blood, and entails superior character.
istics and qualities on s possessors, but that it is
only intended TO assert that the individual beast Is
pure specimen OF the race or variety 10 which be
belongs and il capable of transmitting hs qualities
which are those of bis race 10 his own poserty be-
gotten on females Of the same family with himself
How far be will transmit those characteristic quail.
| ties TO offspring begotten on females of another
distinct family or variety is a widely different
questions and in fact nothing can be predicatei on
this point, exeep. the direct result of particular
experiment
For the understanding Of this interesting sub
ject will be necessary, first to examine the priu-
| cipal British families, since from Great Britain
mainly We have derived nearly all, and quite all our
best American families. 1t is true that there must
have been in different States of the Union different
crosses Of foreign, continental blood, which still
bears share IN large proportion of our native
| cattle. New-York, founded and colonzed by Hol-
anders, doubtless had i.s original stock of cattle
from the rich and watery meadows of the Low
Countries and bulls and heifers, such as Paul
Potter loved to paint, among Holland willow
bushes blue canals, and intermiDable green levels,
fed and chewed the cud in the pastures of the New.
Netherlands II cannot be doubted that Swedish,
.nd probably Danish and IIOlSein cattle, were i'm
ported into New-Jersey; Swabian, BavaHan AMI
Prussian cattle into Pennsylvania Andalusian and
Murcian stock into Florida and Louisiana; aud
Norman cattle into the Cansdss and the Lake
States at an early period of our history.
Still, Nc our language so our agriculture has been
in all respects and most of all, in regard to cattle
and horse raising, purely English. All our most
intelligent and bes-considered efforts for improving
our breeds Of cattle have been carried on upon the
English principle, and have been realized by the
importation of choice British breeds; the raising
on that principle pure and thorough stock from
those British breeds perfectly authentic and I'M
mixed az any in the island ITSELF and lastly, the en-
grating the qualities and proportion of the forms
of some of these varieties on what, though it can
be considered itself only as fortuitOas result of
combination of many families, we are in the habit
of calling our native stock. In fact, the English
handb book is as necessary to the practical and In
telligent cattle breeder of America is the Turf
Register to the patron of the turf and the lover of
that noblest of animals the thoroughbred horse.
The study of the English breeds of cattle is, there
fore, worthy of all care to the American farmer,
it cannot be doubted that they have carried the
cultivation and improvement of the OK family to
the highest point in England, as regards all the va
rious ends of utility to be found in that excellent,
patient, accomplishing and philosophical partner
in our agricultural labOrs the husbandmans best
friend, the OK; whether he be required as an art-
Gle of food directly, by his flesh, or less directly,
by the butter and cheese produced By human In
teligence out of the teeming udders of the milky
mothers.
The families of British cattle nearly all Of which
all, in fact, of which having any claims on the
public favor-are as well known here as at Leices-
ter, Durham, or on the shores of bevonshire, are
many in numbers, every county, and almost every
considerable parish having, mere or less, its own
distinctive sub-famy. All are, however, referabe
to one of four great divisions, in regard to which
there has been much controversy as to their an
tiquty if not the excellence of their Characters
tics These are the middle-horns, the long-horns,
the polled cattle, and the shorhons; and to these
belong more or less exactly all the breeds OF catts
which have gained q worldwide renown, and
which, each in its own degree, possess some high
and invaluable characteristics, whether tor the
dairy, the shambles or the field. There has been
some controversy as to which of these four
grand divisions is to be regarded the true British
breed; but it is, We believe, now generally con-
coded that the oldest and nearest original of the
four divisions is the middle-bOrns, of which the
Scottish kyloes are the most unmi,ed, and, rs In
general believed the oldest class of families while
the pOlled OF horness cattle, humbled, as they
are styled in the northern provinces, are the con-
sequence Of an accident, which has by artificial
means been rendered permanent, the casualty being
converted, by long course of inbreeding, INTO
family characteristic.
The original varieties, from which each OF these
four grand divisions sprang, which have again.
more or less, branched out EACH into many SUD-
families, appear to have from very early pen'd'
almost so long ago as that the memory Of man goes
not to the contrary, been indigenous to certain 10
caities, how brought to them, it is Impossible now
TO ascertain, and useless to inquire.
Tie reason, however, for ascrblng 70 inc MD
dle-horns, as they are called the antiquity Is a'''
that they are found to exist in those places and IN
those places only, to which the ancient inhabitants
of Britain successfully retreated aud in when they
the longest maintained themselves; as the reLn'te
regions of Devonshre and Cornwall, IN the "ess;
the mountainous regions Of Wales; the wean' %
they are called. or high country of East Sussex