100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



North Holland, and imported thence by me in the fall of 

 1871. 



Dutch cow "Susan," four years old, bred in North Hol- 

 land, and imported thence by me in May, 1873. This cow 

 Calved April 5 last: her yield of milk for the 176 days 

 since, has been 8,206 pounds 2 ounces, or an average of 

 46 pounds 10 ounces per day for about six months Her 

 largest yield for any one week has been 373 pounds 12 

 ounces, — from June 7 to 13, — or an average of 53 pounds 5 

 ounces per day. From this your committee will notice an 

 extraordinary evenness of yield over a long period of time. 

 Yesterday she gave 41 pounds 3 ounces, and for the past 

 month her yield has equalled that of her first month after 

 calving. Her feed was, for the first month after calving, hay 

 only, with three pecks of turnips daily; since then, hay or 

 pasture, according to the season, and at no time more grain 

 than two quarts of meal per day, until within the past fortnight, 

 her pasture having become very bare, two quarts bran have 

 been added. 



Concord, Sept. 29, 1874. 



BRISTOL. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Milk, with its products, is a luxury we can ill afford to dis- 

 pense with ; the loss of any other article of food except the 

 staff of life, would cost less in healthful nutriment or even in 

 the pleasures of the table. Our children drink it ; it is pre- 

 scribed by physicians as medicine and food for the sick ; it is 

 an- ingredient of which the cook makes constant use; and 

 without butter, bread would hardly seem palatable to many. 

 Hence the aim of pur farmers should be a continued improve- 

 ment of their cows in the quantity and quality of milk. Few 

 people get as much as is desirable from their farm-stock. 



To the widow whose falling fences scarcely keep her one 

 cow in her old pasture, or to the woman of the village who 

 watches hers by the roadside, as well as to him who owns 

 herds, good cows are indispensable to success ; with care and 

 judgment on the part of farmers, such might be attainable 

 by all. 



