NEAT STOCK. 203 



WORCESTER. 



Report of the Committee. 



From the organization of this society, now thirty-seven years 

 since, its trustees have annually endeavored, by all the induce- 

 ments which the most earnest invitations and liberal premiums 

 could offer, through the observation and experience of practical 

 farmers, to ascertain and improve the productive qualities of the 

 dairy stock of the county. Among the classes of animals none 

 have been made an object of greater interest than the milch 

 cow. Rewards, not unfrequently quite equal to her market 

 value, have been offered for her exhibition at our shows, with 

 no other requirement from the owner than a statement of her 

 qualities, the product of her milking within short periods, and 

 the value of her use. Probal^ly, in no attempt at results has 

 there been so little of certainty, or of satisfaction, hitherto. Either 

 from misunderstanding of the proposals, or carelessness in their 

 observance, or supposed difficulty in compliance with the rules, 

 the number of competitors has annually been small, and facts, 

 the communication of which would seem to be within the notice 

 of every intelligent and observant dairyman, yet remain to be 

 solicited for our reports. What the society needs, and what the 

 agricultural community most wish to know, is, the preference 

 which should be given, in the cow, to the different races. We 

 have the Durham and the Devon, the Ayrshire and the Alder- 

 ney, the Holderness, the Hereford and the native. Which is 

 the most productive to the farmer ? Which may he buy to the 

 greatest profit ? If one is to be preferred to all, or any other, 

 for what properties ? Is the greater richness of the milk of the 

 Alderney an equivalent for the greater quantity of the milk of 

 the Ayrshire ? Or does the hardier character and easier keep 

 of the native outweigh a just consideration of the earlier matu- 

 rity and greater size of the Durham, or the beautiful symmetry 

 and quiet docility of the Devon ? Or in a mixture of races, 

 and between what races, lie the better advantages of a cross ? 

 These are questions which are yet unanswered. And besides, 

 by what experiment or comparison are we yet enabled to dis- 

 criminate between races, or individuals, relatively best adapted 



