Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-07-22
agricultural.
Brittany Cattle.
PARIS. FRANCE, MAY %, 1865

L purchased Two nerds OF the small Breton
cows Thinking it may interest your readers,
| viii endeavOr to give a short description of
these animals and their native country; in
some respects so much resembling many of
the agricultural districts of Massachusetts,
that | feel sure these cattle will prove to be
valuable Importation
Brittany forms the northwest corner of
France; the climate is damp, liable to much
rain and great changes of temperature the
soil mostly very thin and liable to suffer from
drought in the middle of the summer. Van
mes, a town of considerable importance, about
fourteen hours by rail from Paris is the CEN
ire of the district where this breed is found
in its greatest purity. In the northern por-
tons of Brittany it has been crossed with the
larger English breeds of cattle in order to
produce size; a mistake which many Massa-
chusetts farmers make in crossing with Short
horns. The country about Vannes reminded
me very much of home 1t is rolling land
cut up into small farms, mostly not over
twenty acres in extent, in small fields divided
by high walls made of sods and covered with
brush and shrubbery, and much wood. The
roads are narrow, crooked, but admirably
made. The farmers are poor and primitive
in their habits-the houses are mostly of
stone, one story in height, divided into two
portions, for the family and the other for
the stock The family seems to live in one
room, sleeping in high beds enclosed by slid
ing DO Jrs like wardrobes in the better houses
considerably ornamental by carving a bench
OF two. and a table completes the furniture
of the house, while sort of dresser contains
the eating utensil, which are nothing more
than yellow stone pots, out of which they
eat their modest epasts-breakfast, dinner
and supper of the same thing, consisting of
curdled milk with black bread soaked in it or
thickened with a little flour and butter 1t
being warm weather whole families
sitting on the door steps on the ground out
of doors, with these pots in their laps old
women, young women and children eating
with an iron spoon, apparently contented and
enjoying their meal. They seldom eat meat
a single pig provides all which is required for
a large family during the year.
The portion of the building set apart for
the stock consists Of single square room
where the little cows stand tied by their
horns with rope to the wall, and without
racks, eat their food off the ground. They
well bedded with coarse furze cut from
the pastures, which is allowed to accumulate
SO that it is soft for the cattle and filthy in
the extreme for visitors. They are fed and
tended by women, and at this season of the
year are turned out in the morning to water
and TO browse on the poor pastures, always
watched, and towards noon are brought back
to the barn and fed on green food. clover or
very coarse grass, and lucerne, which is cut
and brought IN to them they are turned out
again towards night on the roads or pastures
Small as they are, they could not live on the
pastures alone Few farmers keep more than
ten head, consisting of pair of oxen, three
or four old cows, and the rest, young growing
heiiers or steers, the single well fed pig tied
by rope behind the fore legs, and few hens
complete the family.
The people ere too poorly fed to do very
hard days work, but they Industrious
and happy they wear a very picturesque
costume, the men very broad felt hat, Dor
dered with wide black velvet ribbon, and
broad band of the same around the crown,
short Jacket, and a white cloth vest with
broad lapels trimmed with black velvet and
black buttons, and large, loose pantaloons
The women wear white cap, a stuff dress of
dark blue OF brown, plated in thick folds,
hardly reaching to their ankles, and showing
broad strong feet; they are quite a match
for the men in days work. Their language
Is a peculiar patois; in fact every department
of France has a dialect and pronunciation pc
culIar to itself and very little resembling the
pure Partisan. The wants of the farmers are
SO few that they raise but few crops, a little
wheat and rye, the rest of the land being IN
grass pasture When the manure accu-
mulates too much in the barns, it il piled up
in square heaps outside the barn where it re-
mains long time. 1t is very poor manure,
straw and coarse weeds mixed with the same
thing masticated and passed through the COWS
All your readers know, however, that to have
good crops they must have rich manure. and
TO have rich manure they must give rich food
and above all take proper care of it.
But to come to the Breton COWS. This is
very old race which has been bred in this
district perhaps for all time. In its purity
it is very small, many specimens not over
three feet high color mostly black and white,
but sometimes fawn a clean, neat head,
broad between the eyes with small curved
generally black or dark horns, mellow, sup
pie skin, thin neck, broad lOins, thin hind
legs, very delicate tail, always white at the
end The best have a very yellow skin,
which all good farmers know to be sign of
good butter cow. Each of the animals
which selected for Massachusetts, is strong
in all these points and very small in stature
and with the best - Guenon : marks They
must be looked upon native stock, not
like the Jerseys carefully bred for years and
cosseted like babies, with an abundance of
food of the richest quality. but ON the con-
trary starved from their very birth. They
are allowed to suck for four weeks at the ut
most and are then turned out to care for
themselves In the poor pastures and never
treated decently until after their first calf
when for the sake of their milk they have
somewhat better care. They are never clean
ed and have their sides covered with manure.
these no doubt are the reasons why the
breed is small. Exposure and hardships,
poor pastures in the summer and want of care,
with miserable and scanty food in the winter
has kept them small, but at the same time,
never saw animals possessing better ground
work for improvement all that is needed is
care, cleanliness, and abundant food to make
a very valuable breed, for milk, butter and
beef, just what New England farmers want
The little Breton viii undoubtedly in a few
generations grow to fair sized animal In
fact the steers and fat cattle which have been
well treated are very symmetrical and well
filed out in the best parts for the butcher,
and the beef is of excellent quality and much
sought after for the Paris market and not a
few fat animals find their way to London
| saw many old cows not over three feet
high. as broad in the back as any Of our tall
natives, with broad udders hanging almost to
the ground, evidently very profitable to their
owners They give when full grown from
seven to ten or twelve quarts of milk per day,
and ! saw some cows which had made four
pounds of butter day. Those which
bought We're two years old having never calv-