160 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the whole time, or twenty-two and one-third pounds per day 

 for the whole time which she was milked, or six hundred and 

 seventy pounds every month ; every pound of which could 

 have been sold at four and three-quarter cents, or thirty-two 

 dollars per month. Shall such an animal be neglected, abused, 

 kept on short feed, covered with filth and vermin, and scarcely 

 out of a chill the whole winter ; while perhaps in the next 

 stall there may stand a horse of little value to the owner as 

 a source of income, which is petted, blanketed, groomed and 

 fed with great care and cost, and upon which no wintry blast 

 is allowed to blow. Now, we do not object that such a noble 

 animal as the horse should be thus treated, but we do ask for 

 the cow similar treatment, and we are confident that in the 

 case of every well-bred cow such treatment, while it will 

 scarcely cost more, will surely add largely to the product as 

 well as to the comfort of the animal, and place the owner's 

 name in the catalogue of merciful men. 



Your committee desire to make some suggestions which the 

 society may deem impertinent, but which result from the 

 labor and difficulty of making up decisions satisfactory to 

 themselves, on the stock exhibited. Animals of the Jersey 

 breed merit premiums for what they will do in milk and but- 

 ter, while other breeds are judged of more especially for beef. 

 The qualifications for the latter are apparent to the eye, while 

 the milking quality of any animal is not so easily estimated ; 

 hence, it may be questioned whether some rules for decisions 

 would not be of value in the examination of Jerseys which 

 would be unnecessary for Durhams and Ayrshires. 



It might not be wise to adopt a scale of points of such 

 elaborateness as is given in the herd-books, although the 

 scale is the standard for judgment in the English fairs, espe- 

 cially on the Channel Islands ; but if all premium cows were 

 required to show some of the leading characteristics of extra 

 quality, and those were known, all breeders would be gov- 

 erned by them, and exhibitors and examiners would readily 

 appreciate them. An illustration of the difficulties which 

 meet your committee may be given by a statement of the case 

 of the committee which presents this report. 



The committee of five were from points remote from each 

 other, were slightly acquainted if at "all ; knew Uttle of the 



