286 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



General, says : " You ask me why, if the offspring partakes 

 more of tlie male than of the female parent, the mares, notwith- 

 standing, sell for higher prices than the horses. The reason is 

 this : he who owns or purchases a mare, hopes that all the 

 while he is making use of her, he will obtain from her a numer- 

 ous progeny ; but he who owns or buys a horse derives from it 

 no other benefit than its services for the saddle, as the Arabs 

 never take money for the use of their horses, but lend them 

 gratuitously." 



This fact being established, every man sees and will admit, 

 that in the improvement of our cattle, the bull must perform 

 the most important part. There is no doubt of the truth of 

 the theory, and being true, how does the practice of our farm- 

 ers, in the main, conform to it ? Why, with some exceptions, 

 but generally, the calf that comes late in the season, when veal 

 is at the lowest, and is so diminutive in size as to be of little 

 value to the butchers, is reared for a stock-getter, for any thing 

 will do for a hull. Not many of ^/icse animals are exhibited at 

 our shows, for their owners would be ashamed of them ; but a 

 very large proportion of the calves dropped in this county, are 

 sired by bulls of this description, raised here, or driven from 

 the neighboring State of Maine. 



One of the exceptions may be as bad, and it is this. Occa- 

 sionally, a very large bull calf is dropped, and the owner, if he 

 cannot afford to raise him himself, advertises his wonderful 

 merits, and some inexperienced man purchases him, for his size 

 alone, never asking or caring for his ancestry ; but his extra- 

 ordinary size, which may be his worst defect, is regarded as 

 sufficient to overcome any and all defects. Such animals are 

 generally pampered, crowded, and kept with a particular eye 

 to the cattle show. The neighbors, far and near, are called in 

 to visit him, and an animal well fed, in high condition, with a 

 sleek coat, is always an object of attraction ; for, as has been 

 well said by an Englishman of good sense, " fat will cover 

 faults." 



These last find their way surely to the shows, and friends 

 and neighbors of the owners are all there, prejudiced in their 

 favor and proclaiming their comparative merits. Now there 

 are few men in our county, (and I say it with all deference,) 



