270 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



cattle and their owners. Mean shapes, coarse heads, broken 

 noses, harsh wiry hair, hard thick hides, vicious tempers, 

 chronic tendencies to abortion, poor milkers, defective udders, 

 and ignorant and brutal attendants, tell unmistakably of want 

 of judgment, niggardliness, and unprincipled dealing. 



Between the two classes we have described, there are num- 

 berless gradations of skill and honesty and their opposites ; 

 but we are satisfied that the market reporter's stereotyped com- 

 ment, " the price depends mainly on the fancy of the customer," 

 applies with far more force to the lower than to the higher 

 class of thoroughbred cattle. 



A growing pile of manuscript warns us that our hobby has 

 carried us far beyond the usual limits of a report. We cannot, 

 however, leave this subject without expressing our conviction 

 that the ability to yield an abundant supply of good milk is a 

 prime requisite in a cow for New England ; that a superior fac- 

 ulty for milk is by no means incompatible with an equal apti- 

 tude to lay on flesh when dry ; but that the two are often united 

 in animals of healthy constitutions, hearty appetites and good 

 digestions ; and. lastly, that the milking faculty is found in 

 individuals of almost every breed, and by judicious breeding 

 and skilful treatment may be rendered a fixed and reliable 

 property, without the sacrifice of any of the valuable qualities 

 for which the several breeds are at present esteemed. 



Small space is left for the important consideration of the 

 treatment of stock. Fortunately this may be summed up in a 

 few words. Good and abundant food, comfortable shelter, 

 proper ventilation, regularity in milking and feeding, cleanli- 

 ness, and kindness, these six ; but the greatest of these is kind- 

 ness. The charity on which Paul insists in his letter to the 

 Corinthians, " for which sarch the Scriptures, and when found 

 make a note of it," is only another name for the kindness we 

 would urge on all in their intercourse with domestic animals. 

 To attain the highest degree of satisfaction and success in the 

 management of stock, requires a careful study of the nature, 

 wants and condition of animals which comparatively few think 

 it worth while to exercise. Many seem to think that, by pro- 

 viding food and shelter for their stock, they are entitled to an 

 abundant return in money value, and also an implicit obedience 

 to demands which are opposed to an animal's natural instinct 



