y years ago, (in 1818,) by the Shakers at Alfred, in York county,
Maine, and afterwards transferred to their brethren in Cumberland
county. No one who has proved the worthlessness of these cattle can
readily believe that any bull of this sort would have been knowingly
kept for service since the first one brought into the State, and yet
it is by no means a rare occurrence to find calves dropped at the
present time bearing unmistakable evidence of that origin.

It seems likely that this disagreeable peculiarity was first brought
into the country by means of some of the early importations of Dutch
or of the old Durham breed.

Culley, in speaking of the Short-horns, inclines to the opinion that
they were originally from Holland, and himself recollected men who in
the early part of their lives imported Dutch cattle into the county of
Durham, and of one Mr. Dobinson he says, he was noted for having the
best breed of Short-horns of any and sold at high prices. "But
afterwards some other persons of less knowledge, going over, brought
home some bulls that introduced the disagreeable kind of cattle called
_lyery_ or _double lyered_, that is, black-fleshed. These will feed to
great weight, but though fed ever so long will not have a pound of fat
about them, neither within or without, and the flesh (for it does not
deserve to be called beef) is as black and coarse grained as horse
flesh. No man will buy one of this kind if he knows any thing of the
matter, and if he should be once taken in he will remember it well for
the future; people conversant with cattle very readily find them out
by their round form, particularly their buttocks, which are turned
like a black coach horse, and the smallness of the tail; but they are
best known to the graziers and dealers in cattle by the _feel_ or
_touch_ of the fingers; indeed it is this nice touch or feel of the
hand that in a great measure constitutes the judge of cattle."

FOOTNOTES:

[15] From the Latin _Atavus_--meaning any ancestor indefinitely, as a
grandmother's great grandfather.

[16] "S'il n'y a pas heritage des caracteres paternels il y a donc au
moins _aptitude_ a en heriter, disposition a les reproduire, et
toujours cette transmission de cette aptitude a des noveau descendants,
chez lesquels ces memes caracteres se manifesteront tot ou
tard."--_Longet's_ "_Traite de Physiologie_," ii: 133.

CHAPTER V.

RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE PARENTS.

The relative influence o