10 maine state society. 



From Report of Committee on Short Horns. 



The committee on this department of the exhibition have endeav- 

 ored to discharge their duty with the single view of promoting the 

 interest of breeding choice and high blooded animals in Maine. If 

 "we may not be able to compete successfully with the great West in 

 stock raising, on account of the severity and long continance of our 

 winters, and for the want of the natural and abundant pasturage of 

 more hospitable latitudes, yet it is- obviously our interest to care for 

 the quality of the stock we furnish. 



In order to secure the best physical development of the animals 

 we raise, and to have choice animals the rule and not the exception, 

 we must be content only with those strains of blood which are of 

 unquestioned purity. 



There is a large amount of capital invested in superior stock, and 

 larger investments will be made in the future, which press on our 

 consideration the claims of the several favorite animals to their 

 superior position and quality. How shall it be determined whether 

 one or another of equally finely formed and superior looking animals 

 should be held in higher regard ? The only way that can be prac- 

 tically and intelligently adopted to decide as to the merits of a 

 breeding animal, is by referring to the Herd Book, and there find- 

 ing or not, the line of noble and pure ancestry of the animals to be 

 encouraged as the propagators of their species, or to be discarded 

 however fat and sleek they may be. Not the rich pasture, not the 

 generous grain box is the source of good blood and reliable qualities, 

 but the evidence of such character must be found in the Herd Book. 

 It is the Jjlood we need. 



A gratifying contrast we have in Maine ; the enthusiastic Devon- 

 man, with his high colored, compact, hardy and uniformly handsome 

 herd, and by his side stands the Durham competitor, who raises 

 great oxen for all emergencies ; who prides himself in the stately 

 bull, in the cow with small and tapering head and neck, with large 

 body and wide spread hips, which mark her both for stock and the 

 dairy. While one seeks beauty and elegance, the other wishes size 

 and strength. The one is content with a fair allowance of good 

 milk, while the other wants a bucket full from a single cow the year 

 through. The one seeks an animal that will always look fat and 

 strong in ordinary keeping, while the other wishes for an animal 



