MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY. 5 



enable the trustees to place in the hands of each of the County- 

 Societies at least half a dozen of the full-blood animals, equal to 

 any that can be found in this or any other country. The result 

 of this liberal distribution of the best stock among the farmers 

 of Massachusetts, aided by the skill and careful management 

 of the County Societies, by increasing the product of the dairy, 

 and the value of farm stock generally, will, it is believed, be of 

 almost incalculable benefit. 



Some evidence of the value of the Ayrshire, as a dairy stock, 

 and the estimation in which they are held by farmers, may be 

 gathered from the importations of that breed in years past. In 

 1836, the State Society imported three cows and a bull of this 

 breed. One of the cows was placed in the care of the subscriber. 

 When twelve years old, in the month of January, four months 

 after calving, she yielded ten pounds of butter per week, when 

 kept on hay and one peck of carrots per day. The calves of 

 either sex, at a year old, found a ready sale at $100 each. A 

 half-blood, at four years old, produced by a cross of the Ayrshire 

 bull with a good native cow, yielded twenty-one quarts of milk 

 per day, for some weeks after calving. The price at which half- 

 blood cows of three and four years old have been sold, has been 

 from forty to sixty dollars, while the native breeds of the same 

 age were selling for from twenty to forty dollars. In some instan- 

 ces, the owners of heifer calves of the half blood, at only four 

 weeks old, have refused to part with them for an offer of twenty 

 dollars. 



The Ayshire cow, "Young Swinley," imported about seven 

 years since by Capt. Randall, as before stated, and now owned 

 by the society, furnishes an instance of what may be done with 

 a single cow, by way of improving the stock of the country. 

 This cow, upon common keeping, yielded fifteen pounds of but- 

 ter per week. Four of her descendants are known by the sub- 

 scriber ; "Maggie," owned by the president of this society; 

 " Effy," owned by Mr. Wright, of Lowell ; :{ Pink," owned by 

 Mr. Lawson, of Dracut; and "Gowen," owned by the State 

 Society. These are all first-rate cows, and give promise of be- 

 ing fully equal to the dam, and have given from one to four 

 calves each. In a few years the trustees hope to be able to give 



