1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



147 



connected with his own experience, he said that 

 about forty-five years ago, he drove a yoke of ox- 

 en from the town of Wilmington to the city of New 

 York seven times, and once to Lake Champlain, 

 and he never had his oxen get lame at all while on 

 the road. He gave as his idea of the qualities of a 

 good working ox, the follov/ing : Let him have 

 large nostrils, a long face, a bright hazel eye, which 

 will indicate docility and intelligence, a hoof rather 

 long and not turned outward very much, a straight 

 back, a broad breast, wide gambrel, small tail, and 

 horns of medium size. When you find such an ox 

 as that, he will be a good worker, and if you can 

 tell what his breed is, then you can tell what is the 

 best breed for work. 



Mr. Wetherell, Assistant Secretary of the 

 Board of Agriculture, stated several reasons why a 

 young farmer in Massachusetts would find it for his 

 advantage to stock his farm with native cattle. He 

 referred to the cattle of Hampden County, and of 

 the town of Westfield particularly, as being equal 

 to any to be found in the State. One pair of oxen 

 recently slaughtered, weighed, when dressed, 4500 

 lbs. Mr. W. spoke in strong terms of condemna- 

 tion of the practice of some farmers, in neglecting 

 to make their stock comfortable by good warm 

 stalls. It was not only cruel to the animals, but 

 was poor economy in every respect. Such farmers 

 do not understand how to reduce the amount of 

 food their cattle will eat, so well as an innkeeper in 

 Hampden county did how to reduce the consumption 

 of food by his boarders. He always kept his din- 

 ing-room as warm as he possibly could, and not have 

 its temperature objected toby his boarders; for he 

 said it was cheaper to feed the fire than to feed the 

 boarders. The old Romans, according to Columel- 

 la, who wrote more than eighteen hundred years 

 ago, were opposed to having heifers come in before 

 they were three years old. They said that when 

 they came in earlier they did not make so strong, 

 vigorous cows. Mr. W. also quoted from the same 

 author the points to be looked for in a good ox, and 

 to a great extent there was a striking correspond- 

 ence between them and those suggested by Mr. 

 Sheldon. 



Mr. Bacheller, of Sutton, claimed for that 

 town the credit of having as good working oxen as 

 any in the State, and he strongly urged the supe- 

 riority of the native breed. It had taken the premi- 

 um from the town of Sutton since his remembrance. 

 With the exception of the two Messrs. Dodge, the 

 people there all keep native, in preference to any 

 imported stock. Mr. Bacheller related his own 

 experience ia keeping Durhams, Devons, Cochin 

 China hens, and other stock, which he called " fan- 

 -y stock," in a very interesting manner, denouncing 

 the Durham breed as unfit to be kept for any pur- 

 pose. He characterized that breed as a humbug 

 upon the community, and said he had come from 



home this morning to attend this meeting expressly 

 to denounce and expose it. If any man would give 

 liim a form stocked with Durhams, on condition 

 that he must keep that stock, he would refuse the 

 offer. They are coarse, ungained, lazy, dainty and 

 ugly in every respect. Mr. B. expressed a decided 

 preference for having heifers come in at three years 

 old, and then again earnestly warned every young 

 farmer to let Durham stock alone. 



Quite an animated discussion rose between 

 Messrs. Bacheller, Wetherell, Howard and 

 others, as to the merits of Durham stock, Mr. 

 Wetherell particularly defending it, for certain lo- 

 calities, with spirit. Mr. Howard inquired what 

 evidence Mr. Bacheller had that he ever owned 

 any genuine Durham cattle, and Mr. B. replied 

 that he had obtained them of Mr. Harvey Dodge, 

 whom he considered a competent judge. 



Mr. Stebbins, of Deerfield, expressed his aston- 

 ishment at what Mr. Bacheller had said of Durham 

 stock. He thought he knew of some cows that 

 were one-half or three-quarters Durham stock, as 

 good for milk as could be found anywhere in the 

 country. Neither did Mr. S. believe that we have 

 any stock that can properly be called pure native 

 stock ; there must be some mixture of imported 

 blood in all stock. They had as good cattle in 

 Franklin county as could be found in this common- 

 wealth ; but he did not know a farmer whose stock 

 was not more or less crossed ; they take pains that 

 it shall be so. Mr. S. concurred in the opinion 

 that heifers should not come in till three years old. 



Mr. Bardwell, of Buckland, related the results 

 of several experiments in crossing stock, of an in- 

 teresting character, and also gave his opinion in 

 favor of having heifers come in at three years old. 



Mr. HoLTON, of Putney, Vt., rose to express his 

 decided conviction that Mr. Bacheller had been 

 humbugged himself, not by Durham stock, but by 

 having taken for Durham that which was of a char- 

 acter, as represented by him, almost totally oppo- 

 site. As the matter of breeding-in-and-in had been 

 spoken against by one gentleman, he hoped that 

 subject might form the topic for discussion at some 

 meeting of the Society, as he believed it to be one 

 of very great importance ; he was much in favor 

 of it. ' 



Mr. Bacheller replied that he believed he 

 could prove the stock that he bought for Durhams 

 to have been genuine. 



Mr. HoLTON responded that the monstrous char- 

 acteristics he had ascribed to his cattle could not 

 have belonged to any of Durham blood. 



The claims of the Hereford stock were referred 

 to by Mr. Howard. He had known a cow that 

 was imported in 1840, and that until the last year 

 had bred every year since, sometimes producing 

 twins, her heifers all being good milkers, and she 

 was sold for beef a week or two since for $60. 



