218 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



farmer to learn the nature of his soils, their adaptation to cer- 

 tain crops, and the quality of manures required for their suc- 

 cessful cultivation, we can hase our calculations with equal 

 certainty and success in the rearing of cattle, which, at the 

 high and remunerative prices now governing tlie market, has 

 become an important and leading branch of agricultural indus- 

 try. It is, therefore, a matter of special interest to the farmer 

 to know how he can realize the greatest profit from this class 

 of stock. All will doubtless agree with the committee, that the 

 best cattle pay best : hence it becomes important to ascertain 

 the surest method of raising cattle whicli shall all be perfect 

 specimens of their kind. Your committee entertain the opin- 

 ion, that an ox or a cow can as well be raised to order as that 

 the farmer can have a plow or a cart built to conform to a spe- 

 cific demand, or in accordance with a given pattern. This 

 avowal may, perhaps, startle some ; but your committee fully 

 believe its truth can be verified beyond a question, in raising 

 stock from unmixed blood ! Who has ever known a good Dur- 

 ham raised from any of our native breeds of cattle ? Or who 

 has ever seen an ox or cow, closely resembling our native stock, 

 raised from purely Durham blood ? We think none. But in 

 all cases where the peculiar characteristics of the Durham 

 obtain, the animals will be found to possess all the qualities of 

 that valuable breed, and, with suitable care and food, will be- 

 come beautiful specimens of the Durliam, so much admired 

 and so highly prized above all native breeds in our markets, and 

 withal, in such great demand, that large numbers are still im- 

 ported, at great expense, from foreign shores, and find their 

 way to our western prairies, from whence, ere long, to return 

 liberal supplies for eastern demand. 



Your committee would not, however, confine their remarks 

 to the rearing of Durham stock, deeming them equally appli- 

 cable to the various native breeds. The principle involved is 

 this: that, in raising cattle from unmixed stock, it may be cal- 

 culated, with great certainty, that the production will be the 

 counterpart of its ancestry. This principle is better understood 

 by those wliose experience prompts them to buy and sell blooded 

 stock, at high rates, without even waiting for its expected ar- 

 rival. This practice largely obtains in our sister States of New 

 Hampshire and Vermont, in the purchase and sale of both cattle 



