172 BOAKD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



tion sscond to none in the markets of Philadelphia and New 

 York, and is even sent to Boston, where, I am informed, its 

 reputation is not second to the fancy brands of Jersey and 

 Guernsey butter which sell at 60 to 80 cts. per lb. The 

 cows in the stables of the Darlingtons are grade short-horns. 

 These gentlemen keep this variety of cows because, when 

 they must be replaced in the dairy, they will sell, for the 

 shambles, for almost or quite sufficient cash to buy another 

 cow, and with proper feeding the return in butter is equal 

 to what they could expect from any other breed. I may 

 also, before this audience of Housatonic farmers, call to mind 

 the fact that in your butter contests at your fall exhibitions, 

 premiums have been won by exhibitors of short-horn butter 

 in competition with that made from the milk of pure Jerseys. 

 I will also state a well-known fact, that butter sent to Boston 

 market from Franklin County, made from the milk of short- 

 horn cows, has, for whole seasons, sold for a higher price than 

 some made from the milk of pure Jersey herds. At the risk 

 of seeming to boast, I will also state that several years since 

 the president of the Hampden County Agricultural Society, 

 the Hon. Norman T. Leonard, arranged for a contest at the 

 county fair between the different breeds of cows, on quality 

 of butter. He procured the exhibition of butter made from 

 pure Jerseys, Devons, Ayrshires, Natives and Short-horns. 

 For judges there were appointed three ladies of Springfield, 

 notable housekeepers, who were unknown to all the exhibitors. 

 These judges in their report used the following language : — 

 " We think there can be no doubt but that the butter ex- 

 hibited by Mrs. Sessions is the best." I need not add that 

 Mrs. Sessions' butter was made from the milk of thorough- 

 bred short-horn cows. 



But in Massachusetts butter is hardly the principal dairy 

 product. The last census gives the milk sold or carried to 

 factories, at 29,662,953 gals. ; the butter made by farmers is 

 given as 9,655,587 lbs. This enormous quantity of milk is 

 consumed principally by people who desire good milk, for 

 which they are willing to pay a fair market price, and they 

 prefer short-horn milk. The milk producers of this State 

 like a cow that will give a steady flow of milk of good qual- 



