14 



MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



Among the statements of exhibitors are the following opinions of 

 the merits of several breeds. 



J. n. Underwood says of the Herefords : 



"I think they combine more good qualities than any other breed 

 with which I am acquainted. They do better on the same food, and 

 so are more cheaply kept. The cows give a fair quantity of rich 

 milk. Grade oxen of this breed will perform much labor, and are 

 easily fattened. They are easily mated. The beef and veal is the 

 best I have seen." 



Wm. S. Grant says of a Jersey heifer : 



" She is very gentle and easily kept. When two years old she 

 gave ten quarts per day ; and her milk is of the best quality. She 

 had no calf this year, and still gives eight quarts per day." 



J. F. Anderson, in his statements on Devons, says : 



" As a grazing stock I believe the Devon race surpasses all others 

 for Maine.° Active and hearty, they will thrive upon coarse and 

 scanty herbage. Gentle and peaceable in disposition, they are easily 

 kept within bounds by even a shaky board and stake fence. 



Satisfied with the poorer quality of food, they are never found 

 •with their heads forced through fences, or reaching far over walls 

 for the more luxuriant growth of the adjoining fields. 



Requiring a less quantity to fill their stomachs, and being re- 

 markably (juick feeders, they contentedly dispose themselves to 

 ruminate, and to lay on flesh, while under the same circumstances 

 the Durham would be uneasily roaming about to find a chance at 

 something better than has been furnished him. 



Being provided by nature with a dense, thick pile of hair, they 

 •withstand the intense cold of our winters with less expenditure of 

 food than other breeds. 



Their integrity of color and similarity of form, and general uni- 

 formity, render them easily matched as steers and oxen. 



The richness of their milk makes them peculiarly valuable for 

 butter dairies ; and when the attention of the breeder has been care- 

 fully and judiciously turned that way, they have, as a breed, proved 

 good milkers ; and their milk is said to abound in caseine or cheesy 

 matter beyond others. 



As I have said before, I believe the Devons are all we need for 

 neat stock in Maine, and what is more in their favor than any thing 

 else, (or than what can be shown of any other breed, in my opinion, 

 except perhaps the Ayrshires,) they are most admirably adapted to 

 our climate and soil." 



