271 



with any explicitness. The owner of the cow is not known 

 to me, either in person or by reputation. 



3. My next account is from PaoU Lathrop, of South Hadley, 

 in this State, a farmer distinguished for his intelligence and 

 success, and on whose statements, made on his own knowledge 

 or observation, entire reliance may be placed. I give an ex- 

 tract of a letter, which I have recently received from him : — 



" We have now twenty-five head, which are thorough bred 

 improved Short Horns, without the least mixture of other blood, 

 and are, beyond question, as pure blood as can be produced. — 

 These animals generally possess great weight and are very 

 perfect in symmetry. At two and a half years old the heifers 

 will average about 1200 lbs., and I have raised one bull calf 

 which weighed 1020 lbs. the day he was a year old. Our 

 stock has been fed upon grass and hay only, with the exception, 

 of a small quantity of roots in the winter months. One of our 

 cows is sixteen and two others fourteen years old, and they 

 now exhibit the appearance, so far as constitution is concerned, 

 of being young animals, which I think is conclusive evidence 

 of this race of animals being well adapted to our cold climate. 

 They mature early and take on fat easily, and, in these respects, 

 have a decisive advantage over our native stock. To test an 

 experiment between a native and a short-horn, I took a cow of 

 each of about the same age, dried them from milk at the same 

 time, tied them side by side at the same manger, and fed them 

 both exactly alike on hay only through the winter. The re- 

 sult was, that the Durham, in spring, had gained flesh and was in 

 high condition, while the native was in only ordinary condition.* 



" Their product, in both butter and milk, is much better 

 than I have ever been able to obtain from native cows with 

 the same keep. We have one cow which made more than 

 twelve pounds well-worked butter per week in April last, and 

 I have repeatedly converted the cream of this cow into butter 

 in fifteen seconds. She gave in June last, upon grass alone, 



* To have made the trial exact, tlie two cows should have been weighed 

 at the beginning and end of the experiment. Their food likewise should 

 have been weighed at least for a portion of the time. 



