STOCK HUSBANDRY. 



139 



The next breed which I will speak of, and whose popularity 

 seems at present to be on the wane in New England, is the 

 Dutch, or Holstein. With their gigantic proportions they 

 may be well adapted to the low marsh lands of Holland, 

 where the coarse grasses grow in such abundance that they 

 may easily get their fill, or in the famous grass regions of 

 Illinois and Kentucky, they may be useful. But for rugged 

 New England, I should not recommend them, although for 

 quantity of milk they may be ad infinitum. 



The Swiss cattle, which have been the subject of much 

 criticism, have some good qualities, — which I have not over- 

 looked, as I have seen them year after year, — as a hardy 

 breed, of very fair milking properties and early maturity, 

 bred as they have been bred beneath the white-capped Alps, 

 whose ever melting snow waters the mountain sides and 

 valleys below. They seem to be a breed well adapted to a 

 country like ours. 



And last, though in my opinion not least, comes for 

 our consideration the Herefords, one of the oldest, if 

 not the oldest acknowledged breeds in England, the gene- 

 alogy of which I shall not further speak of here. And first 

 I will say that the improved Hereford cow, like the Shorthorn 

 and the Devon, are not acknowledged as great milkers, 

 although there are fomilies in all these breeds that are quite 

 good, and I might almost say excellent dairy cows. But the 

 half-breed cows are quite often very good at the pail. As a 

 beast of burden, for heavy draft and long roads, the Hereford 

 ox is unsurpassed, of great powers of endurance and very 

 tractable. The Herefords cross extremely well with the 

 Shorthorn, and the progeny not only partake the early 

 maturity for which both breeds are so noted, but also the 

 fattening qualities of the Hereford. 



And now I have reached a point in my remarks where I 

 shall have to tread lightly, or take the shoes off my feet. I 

 feel, as I remember the many choice flocks of sheep that 

 I have seen from Aroostook, that I should be the listener and 

 brother farmers here be the speakers. The Aroostook 



