84 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



On Bulls. 



Twelve Bulls were entered for premium. There was no 

 difference of opinion as to which should be given the first pre- 

 mium, but which was best entitled to the others, was a matter 

 not so easily and readily to be determined ; and in coming to 

 the final result, the committee felt very far from entire confi- 

 dence in the correctness of their judgment. When the merits 

 of different claimants are very nearly balanced, the right or 

 wrong decision of the question of superiority, is almost of 

 necessity an accident, and in giving the preference to one, 

 another must be passed by, which in some one point or more, 

 may be his superior. After due deliberation, however, it was 

 concluded that the yearling Bull of Henry Poor, of Andover, 

 was entitled to the first premium of . . $7 00 



The Bull of Samuel Thompson, of Haverhill, two 



years old, to the second, . . . 6 00 



And the yearling North Devon Bull, of Joseph Kit- 



tredge, of Andover, to the third, . . 5 00 



Naturally, and intimately associated with our report, is the 

 subject of " Improving the Breed of Cattle." A remark or two 

 upon that subject may be neither uninteresting nor out of place. 

 The importance of a more thorough knowledge, or clearer ideas 

 upon it than we now have, is apparent to every body. In 

 fact, no such thing as breeding stock, as an art, is known 

 among us; and the man who has the credit of being a stock- 

 raiser, generally gets it because he has a greater number of 

 half-starved calves than his neighbors, and in whose stock there 

 are as many varieties of shape and color, as there were in the 

 stock of Jacob, when he separated from his father-in-law. 

 Every imported bull, that happens to come in his neighbor- 

 hood, no matter what his blood, nor what the blood of his cow — 

 is crossed with his stock. Now, although crossing in any way 

 is preferable to breeding in and in, yet this indiscriminate 

 crossing will never, to any extent, improve our stock. If we 

 get a good cow, it is the result of accident — ^mere chance. 

 Experience so far, has shown, that importations from abroad, and 

 the crossing with them, have in no way benefited our milch 



