Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/504

 cow-bell was in general use, but was employed to disclose the whereabouts of the cattle, and not to indicate the ownership.

There were few inventories at this time that did not show the presence of neat cattle among the properties which they included, but the number held does not appear to have been very much larger than what has been noted in the case of estates in the decades immediately previous. From the variety of colors distinguishing the horned cattle entered in the appraisements, it would be inferred that there were no distinct breeds in the Colony, the original ones having become by repeated crossings so confused in blood as to represent no separate types except in an extremely modified form. There is proof, however, that the importation of bulls from England was not unknown, and this step must have been taken with a view to improving the physical character of the stock. The neat cattle at this period suffered even more than the horses from the hardships and privations to which they were exposed in the winter, many perishing in the spring, because, having ventured after the young grass in the marshes, they were too weak to extricate themselves from the quagmires into which hunger had led them. The wealthiest planters, from this cause, sometimes lost as many as thirty head apiece. Among the horned cattle a curious habit was observed