THE EXTENT AND DIVISION OF THE 



DAIRY INDUSTRY IN NEW. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



BY IVAN COMINGS WELD. 



THE earliest information we have regarding dairying in 

 New Hampshire is found in a letter written August 6 t 

 1634. In this letter, Mr. Ambrose Gibbons, manager of Capt. 

 John Mason 's plantation, which was located near the present 

 City of Portsmouth, writes to his employer in part as fol- 

 lows: "you have here at the great house 9 Cowes, 1 Bull, 4 

 calves of the last year and 9 of this yeare, the prove very 

 well, farre better than ever was expected. They are as good 

 as your ordinary Cattle in England and they goates prove 

 some of them very well, both for milke and breed, if you 

 did send ashippe for the Western Hands of 6 scoore tunne 

 or thereabouts for cowes & goates it would be profitable for 

 you. A good husband with his wife to tend the Cattle & 

 to make butter and cheese will be profitable, for maides 

 they are soone goune in this countrie" 



1 l Newitchawanock, the 6th of August 1634' ' 



According to an ancient authority, such cattle as those 

 referred to were ' ' valued at Fife & twenty pounds the head, 

 being very Large Beasts of a yellowish colour & Said to 

 be brought by Capt. Mason from Denmark." 



These cattle and their progeny were scattered through 

 parts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts and 

 formed the foundation stock for the early settlers in many 

 New England colonies. 



For more than 200 years in New Hampshire, cows were 

 only kept to supply local demands for milk, cheese and but- 



