64 ON MILCH COWS AND HEIFERS. 



No other cows were worthy of particular notice, except an Ayr- 

 shire and a Hereford cow, full-blooded, exhibited by Mr. Pitman, of 

 Lynn. These last were probably exhibited as specimens of their dif- 

 ferent breeds ; for extraordinary milking properties, neither of them 

 seemed to possess. 



When we take into view the place of the exhibition, and its vi- 

 cinity, the display of milch cows was not of such a character as to 

 stir up a very strong feeling of pride. Lynn itself must afford a 

 good market for fresh butter and milk, while Salem, its larger and 

 opulent neighbor, demands large quantities of both. Beverly, Mar- 

 blehead and Danvers, also in the immediate vicinity, all contribute to 

 make the keeping of milch cows, in this southern section, more pro- 

 fitable than in any other part of the County. For this reason, cows 

 are better fed, better sheltered and in all respects better provided 

 for, than in many other parts. Their milking properties are there- 

 fore fully developed. If, then, the County has any cows of which to 

 boast, we should expect to find them in that vicinity. However it 

 may be, one thing is certain, they were not at the Cattle Show. We 

 hope that another year, those gentlemen in the vicinity, who own 

 superior cows, will give the Society an opportunity to look at them. 



In connection with this report, the Chairman of the Committee 

 asks to be excused for venturing one or two suggestions, with which 

 the Committee have nothing to do. He alone is responsible for them. 

 The subject is of considerable importance, and all farmers are more 

 or less interested in it. Every man who keeps a cow is interested in 

 it. Individual feeling is oftentimes wonderfully excited by it. The 

 produce of a favorite cow is the subject and perhaps the only subject 

 about which an honest man will tell the whole truth and a good 

 deal more. It \s. pretty easy for a man to believe that his horse trots 

 a mile in tliree minutes, if he does it in jive — but it is a little easier 

 for a man to get ten quarts of milk into an eight quart pail. He 

 takes his desire to have it so, for an assurance that it is so. It is a 

 fact often confirmed, that coavs for which extravagant prices have 

 been paid, sadly depreciate in the hands of the purchasers. From 

 sixteen quarts of milk a day they dwindle to eight, merely by chang- 

 ing owners. Such things have happened in high places, where the 

 Agriculture of Massachusetts expects and has a right to expect bet- 

 ter things. The owners of most of the three-minute horses have so 

 much fondness for them, that they never put them to that speed; 



