224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The other cows present without the required credentials, 

 were a thorough bred three-year-old Jersey, lately purchased 

 by II. J. Chapin, a large two-and-half-year-old heifer, owned by 

 I. II. Montague, and a grade Ayrshire, by D. S. Rowland, all of 

 Springfield. There was still another cow alone on the grounds, 

 with excellent marks, and apparently worthy of the highest 

 honors, but because she wore no badge of the society telling 

 of her ownership, your committee felt reluctantly obliged to 

 give her the cold shoulder. In herds of cows, Samuel D. Smith 

 of West Springfield, was the only exhibitor that complied with 

 the regulations of the society. He exhibited six cows, of mixed 

 breeds, and of ages varying from two to six years. He stated 

 that two of his cows were dry, but the remaining four yielded 

 from the 10th to the 20th of September, 300 quarts of milk. 

 Mr. Smith sells his milk daily at his door for three cents a 

 quart. From the 10th of June to the 10th of July, he has sold 

 from these cows $51.16 worth, or 1,872 quarts. Their feed has 

 been pasturing, to which they were daily driven two miles from 

 home, and occasionally corn fodder. Only two of these cows 

 appeared at all extraordinary to your committee, but on 

 account of Mr. Smith's strict compliance with the rules of the 

 society, and the peculiar difficulties under which he labored in 

 keeping his stock upon the ground for two days in the storm, 

 we advise a special premium of ten dollars. 



The matter of premiums being disposed of, before making 

 our retiring bow to the directors of the society for the honors 

 conferred, we desire to place upon record for the public benefit, 

 some of the principles that have governed us in the perform- 

 ance of our work. First, we seriously considered the question, 

 — What constitutes a good milch cow ? At the outset we 

 started with the idea that neither man or breeds should 

 influence us, and that flesh and color were matters of secondary 

 consideration. It was agreed that a cow to be worthy of the 

 society's premium, should not only have the written particulars 

 of her worth from the hands of her owner, but certain unmis- 

 takable external marks, which the best cows usually carry. 

 The first and most important of these marks, we beleivcd, were 

 the veins of the belly. A large, long, crooked, visible vein on 

 either side of the animal running forward from the udder and 

 terminating in a deep cavity, is the invariable accompaniment of 



