No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 205 



Eurotais, who many jcais ago made 778 pounds 1 ounce of butter in 

 341 days and dropped a living calf 359 from the beginning of the 

 test. The sons to which I call your attention are Duke of Darling- 

 ton, Pedro, Michael Angelo and Eurotas Black Prince. Duke of 

 Darlington and Pedro were drojjped before their dam was seven. 

 Their sires were young. Duke of Darlington has twelve standard 

 tested daughters and Pedro over thirty. Michael Angelo and Eu- 

 rotas Black Prince were dropped when their dam was over eleven, 

 and their sire was also an old bull. Michael Angelo has two tested 

 daughters and Eurotas Black Prince none. 



Having purchased a good bull, it may not be out of place to con- 

 sider next how to care for him. To allow him to run with the herd, 

 generally results in his becoming worn out or unmanageable by the 

 time he is six years old. To confine him in a stable without exer- 

 cise is cruel, tends to make him an uncertain breeder, and also dan- 

 gerous to handle. He should be treated firmly, but gently, and should 

 be given daily exercise in the open air. By such means Stoke Pogis 

 5th and Ida's Rioter of St. L. were kept by us in a good condition 

 of health and vigor till their fifteenth year. If I had a bull of great 

 dairy merit, still strong and potent, but advanced in years, I should 

 take care that the cows with which he was mated should be much 

 younger than himself so as to insure a full stock of strength and 

 vitality in the produce. 



Tliis leads me to call your attention still further to what I con- 

 sider the imi)ortance of keeping low the average age of the sire and 

 dam, if one would secure cows of the greatest capacity for milk and 

 butter. Taking fifty of the foremost cows in the Jersey breed, as 

 shown by milk and butter records accepted by the American Jersey 

 Cattle Club, particulars of which are given in the last published 

 volume, I find the average age of the sire and dam at the time they 

 were dropped to be approximately four years. Included in this num- 

 ber and average are the widely known cows Eurotas, Jersey Belle 

 of Scituate, Mary Anne of St. Lambert, Ida of St. Lambert, Etheel 

 2nd, Landseer's Fancy, Adelaide of St. Lambert, Signal's Lily Flag, 

 Eurotisama, Ida Marigold, Brown Bessie, Merry Maiden, Matilda 

 4th, Baroness Argyle, Hugo's Countess and thirty-five others hardly 

 less illustrious. Of cow^s that have produced three or more daught- 

 ers with standard butter tests, I find eighty-nine concerning w^hich 

 sufficient facts were given to enable me to determine the average age 

 of the sire and dam at the time of their birth. This I ascertain to 

 be approximately four and one-half years. Only two out of the en- 

 tire number average over ten years. Only one additional averag- 

 ed over nine, and only two additional over eight. Those who pur- 

 chase old cows in the hope of obtaining superior offspring from 

 them, need, in my judgment, to heed these figures and by the use of 



