202 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Dutch cows, each rivalling the other in some particulars, the 

 memory of him who first introduced it here will be associated 

 with them, and warmest wishes that health and prosperity may 

 attend his declining years in his home, near the old battle-field 

 of Bull Run, in Virginia, will find a place in every manly 

 farmer's heart. And while we deem it not unfitting to pay this 

 tribute to him who first brought within reach the improvement 

 of our native stock of neat cattle by Durham crossings, it will 

 not be inferred that the claims of later improvements are denied 

 or overlooked. In view of the adaptedness of our soil for 

 grazing and dairy purposes, it would seem to be worthy of con- 

 sideration whether it would not be advisable to breed cattle 

 here, especially for their milking qualities, and rely on the 

 cheaper pastures of Vermont to furnish our working oxen, and 

 tbe rich bottom lands of the Connecticut Valley and the West 

 to supply our tables with beef. The experiments which have 

 been recorded would seem to establish that the Ayrshire stands 

 at the head of breeds for yielding rich milk, and wc may look 

 forward to continued improvement in the future as has been 

 seen in the past, as this splendid stock becomes no longer an 

 exotic, but an acclimated element of our famous herds. That 

 careful scientific breeding will improve the quality, increase the 

 quantity, and so enhance the profits of cheese-making, must be 

 apparent. 



But a good cheese is not due alone to the soil, the pasture, 

 or the cow. Its production requires a resolute will, a strong 

 arm, a steady nerve, an active mind, a retentive memory, a 

 correct and self-reliant judgment, a pure, cultivated taste, and 

 habits of steady, faithful industry. The various considerations 

 of weather, of strength of salt, of virtue of rennet, of time of 

 probable market, each requires adjustment : while the little 

 globules in the milk, which contain the butter that gives the 

 richness of taste to the cheese, are easy to escape in the whey 

 under the treatment of a careless or inexpert dairywoman. 

 And here your Committee would take occasion to protest against 

 the doctrine promulgated in an essay published in the last vol- 

 ume of the " Agriculture of Massachusetts," that the successful 

 manufacture of dairy cheese is a thing of chance. It is, on 

 the contrary, a matter of such exact science that dairies in our 

 midst have preserved their uniform peculiarities of looks and 



