138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



that canuot be done, but at the same time we can approach very- 

 near to it. I very much rather in the morning to find that the 

 manure had stiffened a little with the cold than to have the stalls 

 full of oppression. There is not a day in the winter, even when it 

 is below zero, that my side ventilators and top windows at the cow 

 shed are not open, so that there is never the slightest feeling of bad 

 air. And the effect of that bad air spoils the product of the cow. 

 Expose milk to it for but a short time and it will be impossible to 

 get first class butter from it. 



Question. Do the Guernseys breed reasonably even in these 

 qualities you have described as characteristic of them ? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. Ver}' even. You can find individualities in any 

 breed. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but from a 

 selected herd they breed very true and regular. I should say, 

 without any disparagement, that if 3'ou took from a herd of fifty or 

 sixty Guernsey cows the one that gave the lightest colored butter 

 you would find it higher colored than the highest from a Jersey. 

 There are exceptional Jerse3's that make just as good butter as is 

 made from any cow. 



Question. To what extent have these cattle been imported into 

 the country? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. There are very nearly as many in this country 

 as on the Island of Guernsey, between three and four thousand. 

 They are in Pennsylvania, a great many in Chester county and 

 thereabouts, a great many in Philadelphia, quite a little plant of 

 them in Connecticut, and Wisconsin within the last three years has 

 been making a tremendous stride in that direction, car load after 

 car load having gone out there, and they tell me it is having a 

 decided effect upon the quality of the butter. 



Question. In case a man wished to purchase two or three 

 animals, how would the price range as compai'ed with Jerseys? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. The Jersey market is a little unsettled just 

 now. I don't think the Guernsey breeders have tried to boom the 

 breed, because none of us have been really much overstocked. On 

 the island of Guernsey, you buy a very good two-year-old heifer 

 coming in for about $125 or $130 there. And so it would make it 

 worth here about $225 or $230. Of course after the animal has 

 matured and had two or three calves and proved herself a good 

 butter cow, her value increases. 



Question. In choosing your males, to what color do you give the 

 preference ? 



