THE breed of cattle now know as the Ayrshire, undoubtedly originated in the county of that name, in Scotland; but by what special means it was formed cannot be particularly told. Youatt (1835) says, "A century ago there was no such breed in Ayrshire or in Scotland;" and he asks, "Did the [present] Ayrshire cattle arise entirely from a careful selection of the native breed?" adding, "If they did it is a circumstance unparalleled in the history of agriculture. The native breed may be ameliorated by careful selection; its value may be incalculably increased; some good qualities may for the first time be developed; but yet there will be some resemblance to the original stock." A comparison of the modern breed with the description given by Aiton of the cattle which he says occupied Ayrshire fifty years before the time when he wrote (1806), will show that the difference is great. He says, "The cows kept in the districts of Kyle and Cunningham [districts of Ayrshire], were of a diminutive size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and they yielded but a scanty return in milk; they were mostly of a black color, with stripes of white along the chine or ridge of their backs, about their flanks and on their faces. Their horns were high and crooked, * * * their pile [hair] was coarse and open; and few of them yielded more than three or four Scotch pints [six to eight wine quarts] of milk a day." Those who are acquainted with the Ayrshire cattle of to-day, will readily admit that they present a wide contrast with the old stock, according to the above description of the latter; and the suggestion of Youatt, that the present breed could not have arisen entirely by selection from the old, seems reasonable. It follows, then, that the Ayrshire, like the modern or "improved" Short Horn breed, originated in crossing. The question as to the breeds from which it was derived, will be briefly considered, although the attempt will not be made to give precise details on this point.