REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 165 



Ayrshire, and Alderney breeds, pure bloods, and in cross with 

 the native stock. Very remarkable cows at the pail have been 

 bred and owned here, which were of told and untold varieties, 

 as to their breed or class. The farmers of Massachusetts should 

 rank first in comparison with the people of any other country in 

 attention to the improvement of dairy stock. Our abundant 

 hill-side pastures are adapted to their keeping. In Germany, 

 Poland and Switzerland, every peasant keeps two or three cows. 

 Milk is the cheapest food which can be provided for the family. 

 Worcester County now exhibits a larger number of cows 

 according to the number of homesteads of its inhabitants than 

 any other county in the State ; also a greater variety of breeds, 

 and probably a greater proportion of valuable animals for milk 

 than any other county, according to the whole number of 

 animals owned. The products of the dairies of Worcester 

 County, was in 1855, of cheese, 1,791,030 lbs., valued at 

 $172,687 ; butter, 1,637,978 lbs., valued at $287,663, and in 

 quality not excelled. 



Oxen. — In 1855, 18,563 working oxen and steers were owned 

 in the county. At the first exhibition of the society, the weight 

 of the best ox, as offered for premium, was 1,732 lbs. In 1818 

 the best ox weighed 2,780 lbs., and the average weight of 

 15 others, then exhibited, was 2,240 lbs. The pair of steers 

 owned and bred by Nathan Dodge, (breed one-eighth Denton 

 short-horn, crossed with the old native Devons of Sutton,) 

 exhibited at a late exhibition of the society, are described in 

 their report as the most remarkable pair of oxen ever bred 

 in New England. The writer of the report says : I have been 

 unable to find on English records, any thing to surpass them in 

 every particular. The gain in five years in neat stock was 

 5,450 head. 



Horses. — In 1855, there were owned in the county 13,484 

 horses, valued at $1,348,484, showing an increase in value in 

 ten years of $838,812. The increase in numbers in five years, 

 (according to the returns made,) was 5,289, valued at $528,900, 

 a gain of over 60 per cent, in numbers, while the gain in neat 

 stock was less than 10 per cent, in numbers. The increasing 

 demand for horses and their yearly increasing value in price 



