MILCH COWS. 313 



render a service to the interest of husbandry which could not 

 be overestimated. 



In the exhibition of this day, the committee have not found 

 the number of animals, nor the degree of excellence, which 

 might have been expected. The entry, indeed, is respectable, 

 but from the largest agricultural district of the Commonwealth, 

 it should have been far greater. By the secretary's books it 

 appeared, that but five cows were offered for premium, and 

 nine were presented for exhibition only. The committee care- 

 fully and repeatedly examined all," and so far as their inspection 

 and the testimonials submitted to them would allow, they have 

 endeavored to assign to each their rank, in value, as milking 

 animals. 



Among the animals offered for exhibition, the committee 

 noticed, with particular satisfaction, two cows, each four years 

 old, of the true Alderney race, imported by the Hon. Stephen 

 Salisbury, always a most active and liberal member of this 

 society, and one of the board of trustees. These cows had 

 been purchased by him on his recent visit to Europe, and were 

 selected without regard to cost, on a full assurance of their 

 purity of blood. They arrived here only on Saturday last, in 

 a bruised and disfigured state, from a long and boisterous pas- 

 sage of more than sixty days. They certainly are in the worst 

 possible condition to produce a favorable impression, by their 

 appearance. Yet, as '' touch of their quality," it was shown 

 to the chairman of the committee, that one of these now cer- 

 tainly not very prepossessing looking creatures, fresh from a 

 voyage across the Atlantic, with scarce strength enough to rise 

 upon her legs, and not having even recovered her appetite for 

 food, yielded two quarts of milk at a milking, which, by the test 

 of the Lactometer, standing twenty hours at a guage of nine 

 inches, gave two and a half inches of cream; while of the milk 

 of eight of the best dairy cows of the owner, at the same guage, 

 and for the same length of time, with which it was compared, 

 the highest shows but one inch and one-eighth, and the lowest 

 but one-half an inch ! On another anniversary, we may hope to 

 see how far care and good condition will enable us to appreciate 

 these valuable cattle. The thanks of the society are eminently 

 due to their public spirited proprietor for the introduction of 

 40* 



