6 MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY. 



as good an account of the produce of each of their imported cows. 

 In addition to the four cows above stated, the descendants of 

 " Young Swinley," she has given birth to two or three valua- 

 ble bull-calves, the youngest of which is owned by the society, 

 and she is now in calf again by the society's Ayrshire bull, 

 " Prince Albert." 



I would now ask the advocates of our native stock, to the ut- 

 ter exclusion of all foreign breeds, where among all the cele- 

 brated milkers of native breed, they can point to a cow whose 

 offspring will compare with that of "Young Swinley?" What 

 has become of the famous " Oakes Cow," the "Nourse Cow," 

 and a host of other accidental good cows, descended from a 

 medley of all races, — unsurpassed, it is acknowledged, in 

 their yield of milk or butter by any of the imported cows ? But 

 where are they 1 All found their way to the shambles. What 

 has become of their descendants ? All gone the same way ; not 

 a solitary one of them found to be worth the expense of rearing. 

 Thousands of dollars have been paid within this Commonwealth 

 for the express object of improving the dairy stock ; and what 

 has been the result? The hoped-for improvement has been 

 looked for in vain. Not an instance is on record where the ex- 

 traordinary qualities of the dam have been transmitted to the 

 progeny, except by the crossing with some pure blood of a for- 

 eign breed. 



Should the opposers of the introduction of the foreign breeds 

 of animals reason philosophically upon the subject, and base 

 their conclusions upon the immutable laws of animal physiol- 

 ogy, they would readily understand why their native cow, in 

 whose blood there are blended many of different races of good 

 and bad qualities, might, and in all probability would, produce 

 a worthless calf. They might also, by this mode of reasoning, 

 be induced no longer to question the expediency of expending a 

 few thousand dollars, in procuring a certain means of improving 

 the stock of the whole Commonwealth. 



And now, while the Massachusetts Society are thus endeavor- 

 ing to furnish the farmer with the means of improving the qual- 

 ity and enhancing the value of his stock, they take the liberty 

 of reminding him of the duty that devolves upon him, of doing 



