but slender, with a thick, bushy tuft of hair at the end, hanging down below the hocks; the legs must be short and low, but strong in the bony structure; the knees broad, with flexible joints; the muscles and sinews must be firm and sound, the hoofs broad and flat, and the position of the legs natural, not too close and crowded; the hide, covered with fine glossy hair, must be soft and mellow to the touch, and set loose upon the body. A large, rather long, white and loose udder, extending well back, with four long teats, serves also as a characteristic mark of a good milch cow. Large and prominent milk-veins must extend from the navel back to the udder; the belly of a good milch cow should not be too deep and hanging. The color of the North Dutch cattle is mostly variegated. Cows with only one color are no favorites. Red or black variegated, gray and blue variegated, roan, spotted and white variegated cows, are especially liked. The annexed cut gives a correct idea of the cow most esteemed in Holland; the type of the race so noted for the production of milk, and of the excellent round Dutch cheeses. [Illustration: Fig. 13. Dutch Dairy Cow.] In 1627, cattle were brought from Sweden to the settlements on the Delaware by the Swedish West India Company. In 1631, 1632, and 1633, several importations were made into New Hampshire by Capt. John Mason, who, with Gorges, procured the patent of large tracts of land in the vicinity of Piscataqua River, and immediately formed settlements there. The object of Mason was to carry on the manufacture of potash. For this purpose he employed the Danes; and it was in his voyages to and from Denmark that he procured many Danish cattle and horses, which were subsequently diffused over that whole region, and large numbers of which were driven to the vicinity of Boston and sold. These facts are authenticated by original documents and depositions now on file in the office of the Secretary of State of New Hampshire. The Danish cattle are there described as large and coarse, of a yellow color; and it is supposed that they were procured by Mason as being best capable of enduring the severity of the climate and the hardships to which they were to be subjected. However this may have been, they very soon spread among the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, and have undoubtedly left their marks on the stock of New England and the Middle States, which exist to some extent even to the present day, mixed in with an infinite multitude of crosses with the Devons, the Dutch cattle already alluded to, the black cattle of Spain and Wales, and the long-horn and the short-horn, most of which crosses were accidental, or due to local circumstances or individual convenience. Many of these cattle, the descendants of such crosses, are of a very high order of merit, but to what particular cross it is due it is impossible to say. They make generally hardy, strong, and docile oxen, easily broken to the yoke and