State Agricultural Society. 521 



vegetation growing in open air in ornamental grounds is the best in- 

 dex to this mildness. For example: the fuchsia grows to a great size, 

 even running along the eaves of low, two-story cottages, and is per- 

 fectly hardy; this, and sometimes even the camellia japonica, is used as 

 a hedge plant. The semi-tropical ferns, which are entirely unknown in 

 Virginia, grow here with great luxuriance. The yucca, the agave, the 

 oleander, and the azalea, nourish in the open air. The orange and the 

 lemon ripen without protection. The camellia japonica blooms through- 

 out the Winter. The grass is green and nutritious all Winter, and the 

 laurustinus blooms in December. The luxuriant vegetation of the Nor- 

 folk Islands grows vigorously, and it would hardly be too much to say 

 that the native trees and shrubs of our extreme Southern States are 

 quite unharmed by the Winters of Jersey. While, however, all these 

 plants are successfully grown without other protection than shelter 

 from high winds, the absence of intense Summer heat is favorable to 

 the vegetation of the north, and the pine and oak grow as well as 

 under their native skies. 



THE CATTLE. 



It is under the fostering influence of this careful agriculture, and of 

 this genial climate, that the Jersey cow has grown to be what she is — a 

 small, docile, useful, domestic animal. She has long been jealously 

 guarded by the Jerseyman as the best cow in the world for his pur- 

 poses, and it was a wise decision which led the Legislature to confine 

 the improvement of the race within the line, rather than yield to the 

 infusion of alien blood. The secret of their great development in the 

 matter of the production of cream and butter has been sought in the 

 fact that, perhaps for hundreds of years, no other characteristics were 

 considered in their selection. The old unimproved cattle, of which 

 specimens are still to be seen on the island, were exceedingly awkward 

 and ungainly, and had little to recommend them besides their little 

 heads, which no neglect had been able to spoil, and their all-important 

 quality of rich productiveness. 



Their most useful characteristics are the effect of continual breeding 

 for a useful result; but their gentleness, their docility, and their 

 beauty — which, when we consider their adaptation for family use, are 

 of an importance only second to this — are due to long generations of 

 kind, personal care, and of the constant presence of man, or rather of 

 woman; for in Jersey the women take almost exclusive charge of the 

 cattle. From their very birth these animals are never at liberty; when 

 in the fields, they are always tethered by short ropes to stakes in the 

 ground, and are removed several times a 'day to fresh grass; they are 

 led to water, and they are led to the stable. 



Bearing in mind the smallness of the island, and the fact that it has 

 over two thousand land owners, one may well be surprised to learn that 

 the census of eighteen hundred and seventy-two returned nearly eleven 

 thousand head of horned cattle as being kept there. 



METHOD OP FEEDING AND TREATMENT. 



We cannot do better on this point than to quote the account of Mr. 

 Le Coruu in the article above referred to: 



66— (as* 1 ) . 



