SECRETARY'S REPORT. 121 



origin upon which great care has been expended. To accomplish 

 this is an object worthy the ambition of those who possess the 

 skill, enthusiasm, ample means and indomitable perseverance requi- 

 site to success. But except the single attempt of Col. Jaques, of 

 the Ten Hills Farm, to establish the Creampot breed, of which, as 

 little has been heard since his death, it is fair to presume that it 

 has dropped into the level of common grade cattle, no systematic 

 and continued effort has come to our knowledge. Consequently 

 such as may be deemed absolutely the best for New England is a 

 thing of the future ; they do not yet exist — and there is no proba- 

 bility that the desideratum will soon be attained. We Yankees are 

 an impatient people ; we dislike to wait, for any thing, or to invest 

 where five, ten, twenty or fifty years may be expected to elapse 

 before satisfactory dividends may be safely anticipated. 



Still, if all would begin to-day, to use what skill and judgment 

 they have, or can acquire, in breeding only from the best of such as 

 they have, coupling with reference to their peculiarities, and con- 

 signing to the butcher as fast as possible every inferior animal, and 

 if, in addition, they would do what is equally necessary, namely, 

 improve their general treatment as much as lies in their- power, 

 there would result an immediate, a marked and steadily progressive 

 improvement in stock. To the acclimation or Americanization 

 already acquired, would be added increased symmetry of form and 

 greater value in many other respects. This is within the power of 

 every man, and whatever else he may be obliged to leave undone, 

 for want of ability, none should be content to fall short of this. 

 T^ose who have the command of ample means will of course desire 

 that improvement should be as rapid as possible. They will en- 

 deavor at once to procure well bred animals, or in other words, such 

 as already possess the desired qualities so thoroughly inwrought into 

 their organization that they can rely with a good degree of confi- 

 dence on their imparting them to their progeny. 



It may be well to allude here to a distinction between breeds and 

 races. By breeds, are understood such varieties as were originally 

 produced by a cross or mixture, like the Leicester sheep for exam- 

 ple, and subsequently established by selecting for breeding pur- 

 poses only the best specimens and rejecting all others. In process 

 of time deviations become less frequent and greater uniformity ia 

 secured ; but there remains a tendency, greater or less in propor- 

 tion to the time which elapses and the skill employed in selection, 



