CHAPTER VII. 

 THE REGIONAL PROBLEM 



I HAVE invented a cow. The invention must be 

 real, because she reproduces her peculiar charac- 

 teristics with unerring certainty. The necessity 

 arose more than fourteen years ago, when I took 

 charge of the little farm in Mayo, and wanted a 

 cow to suit it ; no easy matter, with half the land 

 then under heather, some under water, and the 

 remainder degraded by bad tillage. 



My ideal cow would be as productive as the best, 

 but she must be easier to feed, and have it in her 

 to improve with the improvement I meant to 

 make in the land. Besides, I must have an idea. 

 Without ideas, farming in Mayo looked like a form 

 of penal servitude, but lacking its assurance in 

 continuity, and I have not changed my mind on 

 this. 



I went to the fairs, but could not find my cow. 

 Probably it was as well. At the fair, I might 

 know nothing of her descent, and though right in 

 herself, she might throw calves after a grand- 

 parent that ought to have been shot. I might 

 have started the Aberdeen Angus, but I wanted 

 a cow that could produce milk. The native stock 

 could milk, but that was all, and I could not see 

 my way to give a calf worth .4 los. what would 



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