279 



B. Shnrtleff, of Chelsea, who has for many years kept an ex- 

 tensive milk farm near Boston, and who has had several of 

 these animals of different grades, and had likewise many calves 

 from Bolivar, the bull before referred to, says — " they have no 

 merit as milkers above our common stock/' A farmer in one 

 of the best towns in the county, who has been some time en- 

 gaged in raising this stock, says without hesitation, " he should 

 much prefer our native stock for a dairy." A farmer in Marl- 

 borough, who is one of the best managers in the county, and 

 who keeps a dairy of twenty-five cows, will not have a Dur- 

 ham among them ; and the farmers in this excellent farming 

 town are agreed in the opinion that a calf of one of the Im- 

 proved Short-Horns, at six weeks old, is very inferior to a calf 

 from a native cow. A great amount of veal is sent from Marl- 

 borough to the Boston market; and the marketmen and the 

 butchers agree with the farmers in this opinion, which is 

 very probably, after all, mere prejudice. 



From a letter received from a farmer in Rhode Island, second 

 for his excellent management to none other within my knowl- 

 edge, the following is an extract : — 



" My experience in cows is confined to native stock and a 

 cross of the native and Durham. Some of the latter have been 

 good milkers, but not superior to the common stock. From 

 one I probably obtained nine quarts per day on an average for 

 the year ; and from a native cow, twelve quarts for the same 

 period. I do not know the exact quantity, but from the cir- 

 cumstance of having milked them myself from first to last, 

 and from weighing at different periods, I am confident it is not 

 overrated. Their keeping while at pasture, which was poor, 

 was some hay daily, and perhaps three quarts of Indian meal. 

 When confined to the barn there was an addition of three 

 quarts of oil meal, or, as a substitute for this, twice the quan- 

 tity of shorts." 



I give an extract of a letter from another farmer, resident in 

 Medford, in this county : — 



" Of the Durham stock, I have but three, a bull and two 



