The Republican journal., 1915-01-07
FAMOUS OLD COWS.

When old Captain "Phin'' tendleton
brought to America a small herd of
Hereford cattle and landed them at
Searsport as a personal speculation, his
white-faced beef cattle at once caught
the fancy of hard-headed and hard driv-
ing Scotch-lrish old John Heagan. at
that time wealthy farmer of Prospect,
who in the course of the next dozen
years, squandered nearly all his big farm
in promoting the breed. He was pro-
baby the first man to Introduce this
worthy breed of beef-cattle to Maine, a
strain not intrinsically as good or as
profitable to grow as the shorthorn of
Durham was, but marked improve
ment over previous herds.
Many of the most famous old herds of
cattle in Maine no doubt came down from
some renowned butter-making or milk
giving cow, whose breeding was no
doubt plain Scrub" Such was the
famous ''lngalls" cow of New York
State, which i'll 1857 gave q pounds of
churned and stamped butter a week for
weeks in succession.
Across the Penobscot river from
Bucksport, Hon. Timothy B. Grant of
Prospect owned a glorious old COW,
which the widow of the late DR.. Fellows
of Winterport used to drive to and fro
between the pasture and her home,
morning and evening when Miss Grant
was schoolgirl in short dresses.
Mr.. Nicholas Buker of Blanket Lane
owned and was proud of the Scrub" COW
by the name "Old Goat" which was
permitted to live on earth until after she
was ~ years of age, on account of the
rich flow of creamy milk she had given
in her early days.
Of first class stock from no more than
secondary breeds the late Rev. E. F.
Pember of Bangor won some fame and
great credit for introducing the besI-bred
Ayrshire stock in New England into
Maine. For the county of Ayrshire.
Scotland, though growing fine live stock
and producing wlde-awake farmers, is
like County Kerry, Ireland, no more than
locally famous for its dairying breeds of
cows; and it was Mother Goose" who
made County Kerry inherit undying fame
through the old, old jingle:
-Four andtwenty tailors, went to kill asnail;
The bravest man amongst them darsen't touch
his tail,
He pushed out his horns, like little Kerry
Run tailors. run-or he'll kill We all now"
Reverend Mr. Pember happened to Sc
lect Ayrshire stock, instead of Kerry
stock, or he might have fallen in with
dear old Mother Goose"
When present Fish and Game Com
missioner Hon. Walter |. Neal of Au-
gusta, was no more than a game warden,
and owned farm down in Waldo coun-
ty, he bought and paid choice stock prices
for some of Mr.. Pember's selected cows.
When Mr.. Neal was game warden he
conversed about game and violation of
the Maine game laws, and not about
growing of choice cattle, save that he
grew Rhode Island Red poultry and Ayr
shire stock few knew anything intimate
about Mr.. Meals agricultural ventures.
Now that he is game commissioner, and
in charge of Maine game wardens, while
his capable son, Ray Neal, who
formerly helped him on the Waldo coun-
ty farm, is himself game warden, IN
der orders from Chief Game Warden
Frank Perkins of Bradley, it is presumed
the Meals may have lost some of their
interest in purely agricultural topics.
1t is an interesting subject to talk
about, to think about, and to muse upon,
is this concerning the pioneer stock
growers of Maine. Bangor News.