l that is
certainly known touching it is, that about a century and a half ago
there was no such breed as Ayrshire in Scotland. The question has
therefore arisen, whether these cattle came entirely from a careful
selection of the best native breed. If they did, it is a circumstance
without a parallel in the history of agriculture. The native breed may
indeed be ameliorated by careful selection; its value may be
incalculably increased; some good qualities, some of its best qualities,
may be developed for the first time; but yet there will be some
resemblance to the original stock, and the more the animal is examined,
the more clearly can be traced the characteristic points of the
ancestor, although every one of them is improved.

Youatt estimates the daily yield of an Ayrshire cow, for the first two
or three months after calving, at five gallons a day, on an average; for
the next three months, at three gallons; and for the next four months,
at one gallon and a half. This would give eight hundred and fifty
gallons as the annual average; but, allowing for some unproductive cows,
he estimates the average of a dairy at six hundred gallons a year for
each cow. Three gallons and a half of the Ayrshire cow's milk will yield
one and a half pounds of butter. Some have estimated the yield still
higher.

One of the four cows originally imported into this country by John P.
Cushing, Esq., of Massachusetts, gave in one year three thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four quarts, beer measure, or about nine hundred and
sixty-six gallons, at ten pounds the gallon; being an average of over
ten and a half beer quarts a day for the entire year. The first cow of
this breed, imported by the Massachusetts Society, for the Promotion of
Agriculture, in 1837, yielded sixteen pounds of butter a week for
several successive weeks, on grass feed only. It should be borne in
mind, in this connection that the climate of New England is less
favorable to the production of milk than that of England and Scotland,
and that no cow imported after arriving at maturity can be expected to
yield as much, under the same circumstances, as one bred on the spot
where the trial is made, and perfectly acclimated.

On excellent authority, the most approved shape and marks of a good
dairy cow are as follows: Head small, long, and narrow toward the
muzzle; horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance
from each other; eyes not large, but brisk and lively; n