OXFORD COUNTY SOCIETY. 1(59 



ciate their value for hard labo?', however much it may have added 

 to it for beef. It has hirgelj increased their size, but diminished 

 their power of endurance. 



Darius Forbes. 

 South Paris, Oct. 5, 1857. 



Milch Cow " Spiffire.''^ — Bred and reared by George P. Hooper 

 of Paris. She is five years old, and a grade Devon. She has been 

 kept in the same manner as the rest of my stock. She is a very 

 hardy animial, has great power of appropriation as well as a good 

 appetite, and will always keep herself in good condition, if 'she can 

 get any kind of food in sufficient quantities. Her coat is always 

 glossy and smooth, and she is a pleasure to the eye to look at. 



What portion of Devon blood is in her, I have been unable to find 

 out. Whatever it may be, it is mixed with Durham and native. 

 She is a fair sized cow, dark red color, inclining to black about the 

 head. Her excellence consists in the quantity and quality of her 

 milk when fed almost entirely on dry fodder. In the months of 

 March and April, fed on clover hay with two quarts of carrots per 

 day, she averaged twenty-eight and two-thirds pounds of milk 

 per day, and made nine and one half pounds of butter per week, 

 I find she gave considerable more milk when fed on clover, than any 

 other kind of hay. 



I have had no experience with the Devon breed of cattle, beyond 

 what I have had with this cow. This leads me to coincide with the 

 general expression of those who have had them, that they are a very 

 hardy breed of cattle, well adapted to a rigorous climate and a hard 

 soil. The main objection I have to them, is their size. They are 

 too small to be profitable as general farm stock. I do not think 

 they are to be preferred to the better class of our native stock, ex- 

 cept it be on account of their coat and color. As a mere matter of 

 fancy, they may be preferred by many. I do not think, for all the 

 purposes of general farm stock, they are any improvement on the 

 better class of our natives. Indeed, with judicious breeding, I think 

 our natives are much to be preferred for all these purposes. This 

 is the conclusion I have come to, after a somewhat careful investiga- 

 tion of the matter. Did they mix well with our natives, which they 

 do not, they might be used to add some desirable qualities to our 



