ESSEX SOCIETY. 9 



How this will compare with former years, is not distinctly 

 in mind. We remember when the society first commenced 

 their offer of premiums, Jesse Putnam, of Danvers, was suc- 

 cessful in obtaining the first premium, and that his cows aver- 

 aged a produce of two hundred pounds each, in a period of six 

 months. This was thought a large product, and was account- 

 ed for by the extraordinary feed of the cows. We have known 

 some of the present claimants, with whom we have been ac- 

 quainted as such, for nearly thirty years, to present statements 

 of a produce of eight pounds of butter a week, to each cow, for 

 a successive number of weeks. These were among the best 

 products, in the natural way, that we have known. We have 

 often heard of cows that yielded two pounds of butter a day, 

 and more, but we have never known a herd of such cows, or 

 any considerable number together, that would do it, witliout 

 using a feed for them that would cost "more than it came to.'" 

 If such can be found, we should consider attention to such a 

 stock, one of the best modes of using a farm.* 



* In the Society's Transactions for 1834, pages 75 lo 78, will be found an enumeration of 

 cows most remakable for their produce of butter. We refer to this with more satisfaction at 

 the present lime, because it was compiled by that eminent friend of the farmer, and especial- 

 ly the Essex farmer, the late Henry Colm an, whose indefatigable exertions for their instruc- 

 tion, too soon extinguished his light in a foreign land. 



As a matter of curious information, we have collected, in a condensed form, the products 

 of several of the most extraordinary cows in Massachusetts, that have come to our knowledge. 



These cows show a product of more than two pounds per day, each, for a period of three 

 months. We think it would be difficult to collect together such a herd. 



On examining the products of Mr. Hall's Dairy, of Chemung count}', who took the first pre- 

 mium in the New York State Society, 1846, we find nineteen cows yielded 3189 pounds of 

 butter, in one hundred and eighty days, or about 168 pound to a cow. In the same time, our 

 fifty-six cows yielded 9174 pounds of butter, or 164 pounds to a cow. This comes so nearly 

 up to the products of New York State, that we are satisfied, our farmers, by proper attention 

 to selecting their cows for the dairy, can, if they will, do as well as the best. Let them ap- 

 ply their true Yankee tact in this matter, and they may challenge the world. 



