Middletown transcript., 1869-01-23
Improvement Of Cattle.
Lecture before the .lassaehusetts Ayric'l. College,
BY CHARLES l.. FLINT.

The stock generally used at the present
time, are what are called native. The
origin of this stock is so very obscure, l
have endeavored by an examination of the
colonial records to ascertain from whence
they came, and what were their original
characteristics. The first cattle that came
to America were landed at jamestown,
Va. in 1908, and several lots were i'm
ported to that colonly in the following
years. These cattle were shipped, some
from England, from Ireland, and some
from the West-Indies. So important were
cattle deemed to the colonly that an or
dinance was passed with the severest PEN
alties to prevent them from being killed
and in 1880 they had increased in num-
bers to several thousand. The first cattle
brought to the Plymouth Colony were i'm
ported by Governor Winslow in 1924
The importation consisted of three heifers
and bull They belonged to the col
ony, but were placed in the hands of in
dividuals to be cared for, for term of
years, when they were to be returned to
the proper officers with their increase
Others were brought in soon after and dis
tributed in the same manner. These cat
tie had no uniformity of color; soma we're
black, some red, and some white. About
1880, one hundred and thirty head were
landed and distributed among the settlers
in Salem and its vicinity. In 1875 the
Dutch at New York brought cattle from
the Texal, which were kept and owned by
the Holland Company. Not far from 1927
the settlers in Delaware supplied them
selves with cattle from Europe. During
the years 1881, '32, and '33, Mason
brought quite number of cattle to the
province of New Hampshire. These cat
tie came from Denmark. The business of
the New Hampshire settlers was mainly
the manufacture of its forests into potash,
and Mason selected the Denmark cattle
for their remarkable working qualities.
They were large boned, strong and hardy.
and laid the foundation for the best breed
of working cattle in the world. Thus you
see from whence our native cattle sprang.
From England, ireland, Holland, Den
mark, and the West-Indies, and some
probably from Sweden. They were of
no uniform race or breed, and as the col
onies frequently exchanged their stock
they soon became perfectly mixed Cat
tie were brought to Carolina from abroad
in 1870, and to Georgia in 1870, and
about that time they were brought to
Nova-Scotia, and thence sent over to Can
ada. An old writer says: The Virgil
MIA cattle were very little cared for and
poorly kept, that they were pastured in
the woods and swamps and were small and
lean." That their manure was not ap-
piled to the fields, for land was plenty,
and after one farm was ruined it was aban-
doned and another taken up" Cattle in
creased rapidly in this country. especially
in the Eastern States, and we find that in
1850 raising cattle and making butter and
cheese was a great business. At that
time dairies numbering from twenty-five
to fifty cows were common in Rhode
Island and Massachusetts,. Some i'm
provement had been made in their stock,
but none had commenced course of bree-
ding according to the principles of ply
siology; in fact, at that time this had not
been done in Europe. Then the object
aimed at was to make the largest cattle
to secure the greatest amount of bone.
Prizes were given for size, without regard
to symmetry of form and ability to fatten.
It was Rakewcll who started the idea of