1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



287 



SHOKT-HOKI3" COW OF DAIRY STOCK. 



A few weeks since we gave some account of 

 what we saw and were told during a brief visit 

 with some of the dairymen of Worcester 

 County, Mass., including a brief description 

 of the Durham cows which are popular in that 

 section. We were much better pleased with 

 their appearance than we were with our de- 

 scription of them. It is therefore with much 

 satisfaction that we are able this month to avail 

 ourselves of the skill of an accomplished ar- 

 tist, in conveying a much better idea of this 

 stock than could be done by any words of 

 ours. In presenting the above illustration we 

 assure the readers of the Farmer that here 

 they may see , 



"risin? from the scroll, 



The image of the thought within the soul," 



which we brought away with us from our recent 

 inspection of the short-horn dairies of Worces- 

 ter county. 



Of the Durham, as a dairy cow, Mr. Allen, 

 in his late work on American Cattle, from 

 which we borrow our cut, says : — 



"Popular opinion, among those not partic- 

 ularly acquainted with their history or breed- 

 ing, is widely at variance. They are the 

 greatest milkers, in quantity, of any breed 

 whatever — with the exception of the Dutch — 

 as innumerable facts have shown : or they 

 may be comparatively inferior, as education, 

 keeping, or purpose may govern. We have 

 numerous well authenticated instances bf their 



giving six, seven, eight, and even nine gallons 

 a day, on grass alone, in the heighth of their 

 season, and yielding fourteen to eighteen 

 pounds of butter per week, and of holding out 

 in their milk, in proportionate quantity, as 

 well as other breeds of cows, through the 

 year. Cows so much larger in size than of 

 other breeds, should be expected to give more 

 than smaller ones, that consume less food ; 

 and without asserting that they do give more, 

 in proportion to their size, it is claimed that 

 when educated and used for the dairy chiefly, 

 they give quite as much as any others. That 

 the inherent quality of abundant milking exists 

 in the Short-horns, no intelligent breeder of 

 Ihem need doubt. Our own observation in 

 more than thirty years' experience with hun- 

 dreds of them, first and last, under our own 

 eyes, is to ourself, evidence of the fact, both 

 in thoroughbreds and grades." 



MASSACHUSETTS AQ'L COLIiEQE. 



From the Sixth Annual Report of this In- 

 stitution it appears that the whole number of 

 students is eighty-five. During the fir.t twelve 

 months from the opening of the college, there 

 were admitted, on written examinations, nine- 

 ty-six students, of whom ninety-two were re- 

 ceived as freshmen for a regular course. Sev- 

 enty-four of them, at the time of admission, 

 were acquainted with farm work, and thirty- 

 five intended to become farmers, while forty- 



