in limited numbers, to add
richness to the milk of large butter dairies. Even one or two good
Jersey cows with a herd of fifteen or twenty, will make a great
difference in the quality of the milk and butter of the whole
establishment; and they would probably be profitable for this, if for no
other object.

THE SHORT HORNS.

No breed of cattle has commanded more universal admiration during the
last half century than the improved short horns, whose origin can be
traced back for nearly a hundred years. According to the best
authorities, the stock which formed the basis of improvement existed
equally in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, and the adjoining
counties; and the pre-eminence was accorded to Durham, which gave its
name to the race, from the more correct principles of breeding which
seem to have obtained there.

There is a dispute among the most eminent breeders as to how far it owes
its origin to early importations from Holland, whence many superior
animals were brought for the purpose of improving the old long horned
breed. A large race of cattle had existed for many years on the western
shores of the continent of Europe. As early as 1633, they were imported
from Denmark into New England in considerable numbers, and thus laid the
foundation of a valuable stock in farming at a very early date in
Holland, and experience led to the greatest care in the choice and
breeding of dairy stock. From these cattle many selections were made to
cross over to the counties of York and Durham. The prevailing color of
the large Dutch cattle was black and white, beautifully contrasted.

[Illustration: A SHORT HORN BULL.]

The cattle produced by these crosses a century ago were known by the
name of "Dutch." The cows selected for crossing with the early imported
Dutch bulls were generally long horned, large boned, coarse animals, a
fair type of which was found in the old "Holderness" breed of
Yorkshire--slow feeders, strong in the shoulder, defective in the fore
quarter, and not very profitable to the butcher, their meat being coarse
and uninviting. Their milking qualities were good, surpassing those,
probably, of the improved short horns. Whatever may be the truth with
regard to these crosses, and however far they proved effective in
creating or laying the foundation of the modern improved short horns,
the results of the efforts made in Yorkshire and some of the adjoining
counties were never so satisfactory to the bes