276 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



advised. It is of little use to grow a great calf, when it costs 

 twice his value to feed him. Many such have come to my 

 knowledge. 



It is so fashionable, of late, to regard the Durhams, the 

 Devons, the Ayrshires, the Alderneys, and others, with foreign 

 appellations, as the only stock worthy of notice, that the 

 humble animals springing up on our hills, with no pedigree 

 attached, are shoved one side, or are allowed to occupy only 

 the lean-to back of the stable, and to feed upon the crumbs 

 that fall from their betters' table. 



I would not be understood as in any manner finding fault 

 with the beautiful animals recently imported, with hair so sleek 

 and forms so symmetrical. I admire their appearance. I am 

 well persuaded much may be learned by tracing their history, 

 and ascertaining the means by which they have been thus per- 

 fected. Great credit is due to those careful observers of the 

 laws of nature who have brought about these improvements, 

 and thereby established principles to be applied by others ; 

 and to these public spirited citizens who have given us an 

 opportunity to examine and understand them. While all this 

 may be very well for those who can afford it, it is a movement 

 in which the common farmers cannot participate, to any con- 

 siderable extent at least, because they cannot aflbrd it. 

 Farmers, like others, must cut their garments according to 

 their cloth. What I would say is, let the same care be used in 

 selecting the best specimens of our native breed of animals, 

 and the same expense be applied in feeding them, I am yet to 

 be assured that they will be found inferior to the best imported. 



It is not enough that these imported animals have a supe- 

 riority of mein when first presented ; they should be summered 

 and wintered, and pass through the third and fourth genera- 

 tions, before their merits can be fairly tested. Let them be 

 fed at the same table, and with the same fare, from the begin- 

 ning to the end of the year, and see how they will come out 

 after this. I liave seen them, when first brought forward, 

 assuming an air of consequence, not unlike the whiskered 

 dandy from the city, when he passes the ploughboy from the 

 country, arrayed in his frock and trowsers ; but when hitched 



