80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



in other breeds of cows, the cream from "Primrose" measured 

 one and one-fourth inches on a column of milk live inches high. 

 In this connection we can only say to the farmers abroad, that 

 when the time comes that it will be judicious to sell any of this 

 breed of cows away from the county, it will be for their interest, 

 if they seek purity of stock, to purchase it at Nantucket. The 

 stock here is recognized in the Jersey " herd book," and every 

 calf born has its exact pedigree stated. 



As to the Jersey cow in general. The various owners of this 

 kind of stock in this county agree that the Jersey cow is as 

 rugged, and can stand exposure, as well as any of our natives. 

 Some of them go farther, and say, that, while they are no more 

 hearty, and are fed on precisely the same food as the natives, 

 and subject to the same exposure, they do not suffer so much. 

 As the proof of this, while the native cow will give a smaller 

 mess after a day of exposure than at other times, the Jersey, 

 according to their united testimony, under the same circum- 

 stances, will yield her full quantity. 



We must, therefore, urge upon our farmers to procure, as 

 quick as possible, thoroughbred stock. If they cannot get the 

 pure until there are more animals reared, then cross their natives 

 as soon as they can with what are known to be pure. Don't be 

 deceived with a mongrel, or, for the saving of fifty cents or a 

 dollar, get a calf, which, if you intend to rear it, will, in live 

 cases out of six, be comparatively worthless, or if you slaughter 

 it, will bring you from the butcher but seven or eight dollars, 

 while your neighbor's " grades " will be readily purchased at 

 from ten to fifteen. Such is not economy. It is in reality 

 saving at the spile and losing at the bung. We must remember 

 that straws show which way the wind blows. Since the forma- 

 tion of the agricultural society in this county, there has been a 

 general attempt to improve the stock of cows ; and although in 

 most instances by selecting the best native stock, and breeding 

 from that, yet the average yield of the herds here has been raised 

 from three quarts of milk daily to five — nearly double. What 

 would this average have been had nothing but pure Ayrshircs or 

 Jerseys or Herefords been used ? Our farmers should ponder 

 these things. There is money in intelligent, scientific farming. 

 In the old, plodding, father-did-so-before-me kind, there is 

 nothing but labor and poverty. No man of ordinary means is 



