320 llilASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



come nearly or quite worthless. We should rear the best 

 calves from our best stock, regarding the fact that a calf worth 

 eight dollars at six weeks old, on becoming a cow, at three 

 years old, will be worth thirty dollars ; while a calf at the same 

 age worth six dollars, will not, on becoming a cow, at three 

 years old, sell for more than twenty-five dollars. Thus, by 

 raising our best stock, we secure five dollars at three years old, 

 for an outlay of two dollars at three weeks old; besides con- 

 tinuing a race of animals that will be constantly improving. 



It is a well-established maxim in the breeding of cattle or 

 growing of plants, that like produces like. Cows for the dairy 

 should be selected from a long line of good milking stock, and 

 be fed, from early youth, with abundance of food of such quality 

 as will promote health, and the enlargement of the lactescent 

 vessels, and the consequent secretion of milk, and keep the ani- 

 mals at all times in good condition. High blood will avail but 

 little in the veins of an ill-fed, half-starved cow. In keeping 

 cattle, warmth and comfort is of more importance than many 

 farmers, from their practice, would seem to admit. The tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere affects the quantity of food the 

 animal requires; the greater the difference of tempera- 

 ture between the body and the atmosphere in which the 

 animal lives, the more food they require to keep up the 

 natural warmth of the body, and less of the food will be 

 converted into milk or muscle. Hence the importance of 

 warm stables in winter, and sheltered pastures in summer, and 

 sheds for milch cows to rest under in rainy and cold, dewy 

 nights. In selecting cows for the dairy, regard should be had 

 to the quantity and quality of food designed for them. If the 

 food is good and abundant, large cattle may be selected; if 

 poor and less abundant, small cattle will prove most produc- 

 tive. In general, in either case, small cattle give the largest 

 return in proportion to the cost. The larger the bone and 

 muscle the greater will be the daily want, and greater will be 

 the quantity of food required to maintain it. Small cows will 

 therefore yield a greater return of bone, muscle, or milk, in 

 proportion to the food consumed, than large ones. Cattle 

 require, for daily consumption, about two per cent, of their 

 live weight of good hay, or its equivalent, to keep them in 



