IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCK. 351 



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almost every part of Massachusetts, and their characteristics and 

 peculiar fitness for the butter dairy are generally understood 

 and appreciated. 



The same may be said of nearly every other pure breed of 

 animals originally imported from Great Britain, though some of 

 them are better known and chiefly confined to more limited lo- 

 calities especially adapted to them. The number of extensive 

 and enterprising breeders of Ayrshires has increased in a simi- 

 lar proportion within the last twenty years, and both pure bred 

 and grade animals of this breed are almost universally diffused 

 throughout the Commonwealth. There can be no reasonable 

 doubt that the average animal products of our dairy and other 

 stock have been considerably increased in consequence of this 

 improvement. 



Nor should it be forgotten that better and more humane treat- 

 ment has gone hand in hand with this general change and im- 

 provement in our stock. If a farmer has an animal in which 

 he takes a peculiar pride, or in which he feels any special inter- 

 est, he will naturally feed it a little better, give it a little better 

 shelter and attention, than the common stock of the country 

 used to get a quarter of a^century ago. I have no doubt that 

 the general treatment of all our stock is vastly better than for- 

 merly, and that this improvement is to a very considerable ex- 

 tent due to the introduction and keeping of the improved breeds 

 of cattle. 



A generous ambition to excel in stock, or to keep only the 

 best, has its influence, also, in other ways. It is both the result 

 of and the incentive to increased enterprise and thrift. How 

 far the general improvement in farm buildings may be ascribed 

 to this source it may not be easy to determine, but it is natural 

 to suppose that it has had some connection with it ; that is, that 

 better barns are the result, in part, of greater intelligence and 

 a greater knowledge of the animal economy. A very large pro- 

 portion of the barns throughout the State are provided with 

 commodious cellars, and most farmers would about as soon 

 think of building a house without a cellar as a barn, so impor- 

 tant is this convenience regarded in the economical management 

 of the farm. 



These general improvements in the farming districts are a 

 source of just pride and gratification, and they seem to furnish 



