1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



195 



SIXTH LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTUBAL 



MEETING. 

 [reported for ihe k. e. farmer, by z. t. haises.] 



NEAT CATTLE. 

 At the sixth Legislative Agricultural meeting, 

 held last Tuesday evening in the Hall of the 

 House of Representatives, the topic of discus- 

 siop was "Neat Cattle." 



The meeting was called to order by Senator 

 Felton, of Worcester. 



On motion the Hon. JoHN W. Proctor, of. 

 Danvers, was requested to preside, and complied. 

 On taking the chair he made a few remarks, in 

 which he expressed the opinion that the subject 

 of neat stock was one of pre-eminent importance 

 to the New England farmer. In the county of 

 Essex, where he was most familiar, the subject 

 was one of very deep interest. In his own opin- 

 ion, the best stock for our farmers was the old 

 red stock of New England, the descendants of 

 those imported by our fathers. There might be 

 some stock superior in certain particulars, but 

 generally the stock alluded to was the best for 

 our use. 



Mr. Hawkes, of Deerfield, said a good deal 

 had been said of the excellency of the milk of 

 tlie Devon cow, but although the Devon breed 

 might furnish excellent milkers, he preferred a 

 larger kind of stock. The old Northumberland 

 stack had proved the best in his region. He 

 had one Devon cow which was valuable for the 

 dairy, but not so valuable for stock raising as 

 the Durham. In the upper part of Vermont, the 

 hilly region, the Devon stock might be preferable. 

 Mr. Howard, of the Cultivator, said the term 

 short horns was very comprehensive. The ob- 

 ject of their early improvement was to produce 

 the greatest quantity of beef in the least time at 

 the least expense. It was obvious that the heavy 

 cattle of the low lands were not suited to the 

 high lands. The Devon was a very useful ani- 

 mal, but their characteristics were first for beef, 

 next for labor, and lastly for the dairy. In New 

 York, where there are more Devons than any- 

 where else in the country, they were more profit- 

 able than if they were the best adapted for dairy 

 purposes. 



Mr. H. C. Merriam, of Tewksbury, alluded to 

 the seeming contradictions in the experience of 

 those taking a part in the discussions, and thought 

 tliey were attributable to the various geographical 

 situations where agricultural experiments were 

 ti'ied. Hence these contradictions were rather 

 instructive than otherwise. With reference to 

 the subject of debate, a long and careful experi- 

 ence had convinced him that our native stock 

 was greatly improved by an infusion of foreign 

 blood. We are told to go to Worcester for fine 

 native cattle, but tliere was not perhaps one sin- 



gle drop of pure native blood in all Worcester 

 county. There had been no other place in New 

 England where greater eflTorts had been made to 

 introduce good foi'eign blood, and with better re- 

 sults. The speaker had used full blood Durharas 

 for fifteen years past as working cattle. They 

 were eminently docile, sprightly and lively. They 

 were good walkers, quick and large. In Worces- 

 ter and jNIiddlesex counties, within the past twen- 

 ty years, the speaker believed that working oxen 

 had improved fully 15 per cent. ; that this was 

 the case with neat cattle generally throughout 

 the State. As to what cattle it was best for us 

 to keep, it did not follow that smaller breeds 

 lived on less food than larger ones. He pre- 

 ferred the Durham for the simple reason that he 

 could get more meat and money from them. He 

 only fed them four times a day, twice on English 

 hay and twice on coarse feed. This was not ex- 

 pensive keeping. His milk cows were treated 

 to roots. The highest his cow^s had yielded was 

 about 17 quarts of milk a day. On a thin, bar- 

 ren soil, the speaker would prefer a lighter stock 

 than the Durham. He considered the Sutton 

 cattle the result of a successful crossing. The 

 Alderney cows are rich milkers, but that stock 

 is not well calculated for work or beef. 



JosiAH QuiNCY, Jr., was at the great exhibi- 

 tion at Paris, where there were 1200 head of cat- 

 tle of forty different breeds. He was surprised at 

 the great interest and knowledge evinced con- 

 cerning these animals. There were Hungarian 

 cattle with horns a yard long, and others with 

 no horns at all ; there were Ayrshires and Short- 

 horns. The Ayrshires took the premiums for 

 milking properties, the Short-horns for fattening, 

 and the French breeds, which were generally 

 crosses of the English breeds, were awarded 

 premiums for a combination of these qualities. 

 The Englishman's test of value was the greatest 

 number of cuts that could be taken from an ani- 

 mal. Mr. Quincy gave an interesting description 

 of the exhibition, and a humorous account of the 

 meagre show made there by the United States. 



Hon. Mr. Brooks, of Princeton, believed that 

 we want to breed cattle as they do in France- 

 breed for meat, for milk and for work. We were 

 not prepared to separate the breeds. He believed 

 that INIr. Merriam's partiality for the Durham was 

 because he had practised most from them. He 

 would not say that native cattle were better than 

 foreign, but it was sometimes found they worked 

 as well, and gave as much milk. There was mor 

 elasticity in our native breeds. They had the 

 spring that was needed to take a rock out of a 

 hole. He believed the Ayrshire Avas as good for 

 milk as any other breed ; they were also a hardy 

 cattle. His Ayrshire cows walked from Prince- 

 ton to Boston, a distance of fifty miles, stayed a 



