IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCK. 323 



last century some of the towns were noted for their extensive 

 dairies, and up to the present time others are famous for the 

 quality and number of their stall-fed cattle. Until within the 

 last thirty years no systematic efforts were made for the better 

 breeding or improvement of the neat stock. About that time 

 Paoli Lathrop, Esq., of South Hadley, introduced the Short- 

 horns, and by skill and attention to the business he was so suc- 

 cessful as to become known throughout the country as one of its 

 best breeders. Others followed his lead and the blood of the 

 breed was quite widely disseminated, producing so marked a 

 change in the quality of our cattle, that in some sections a 

 beeve at three years was as heavy as under the old order of 

 things at four. Our agricultural society has endeavored to en- 

 courage the work of improvement, by offering large premiums 

 for thoroughbred stock, and by introducing bulls and granting 

 their use to the farmers. At the present time we have pure- 

 bred animals of the Shorthorn, Ayrshire, Jersey and Devon 

 breeds, and an infusion of their blood in our grades. It is 

 doubtful whether we have so many cattle on our territory now 

 as we had seventy-five years ago. Our farmers, to a great extent, 

 have ceased to grow cattle for beef or work, and give their at- 

 tention to dairy animals, but they are decreasing in number. 

 The earliest statistics to which I have had access, show that ex- 

 cluding swine, the ten towns had in 1855, 17,399 domestic ani- 

 mals ; in 1865, 18,731 ; and in 1870, 15,640. The number of 

 horses in 1855, were 2,408 ; in 1865, 2,782 ; in 1870, 2,012. 

 The working oxen in 1855 were 1,883 ; in 1865, 1,197 ; in 1870, 

 1,097. These figures show that while horses have decreased 

 396 in fifteen years, working oxen have decreased 786. Horses 

 have been substituted for oxen as the working teams of our 

 farms to a much greater extent than the figures would indicate. 

 Formerly horses were kept for driving and breeding purposes ; 

 now but little comparatively is done in breeding, many of our 

 horses come from abroad, and four-fifths of our farm work is 

 done with horse teams. 



For thirty years there has been a gradual decrease in the 

 number of sheep reared and kept by our farmers, though stim- 

 ulated at times by the high price of wool, there is a temporary in- 

 crease. They are kept more for the sale of early lambs tlun for 

 wool, and many thousands bought abroad are stall-fed here, which 



