i853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



179 



Geo. M. Barrett, of Concord, said he had had 

 some experience in the breeding of stock, more es- 

 pecially of the Ayrshire. But his experiments 

 have not been continued long enougli to deter- 

 mine its absolute value. Ilia present impression 

 ia, that they will prove the best for milk. Ayr- 

 shire cows have short teats, and sound, compact 

 bags. Where they have one-quarter native blood, 

 they have good ?ized teats. 



Maj. B. Wheeler said he had liad some expe- 

 rience in raising stock. Durhams, he thinks the 

 best fur beef. They are large, hardy, and take 

 fat easily. If the object of the raiser was to get 

 cattle for beef, he would recommend Durhams. — 

 But he has not been successful in getting great 

 milkers from them. The Ayrshires he thinks fine 

 milkers. The only objection is their small teats. 

 The xVlderneys give very rich milk, but they are 

 not hardy, and within his observation, they are 

 apt to be poor. 



Col. Heard, of Wayland, keeps seven cows and 

 always raises his own. Selects from his best and 

 takes them to the best bull he can find. His cows 

 have been mostly natives, but he has had some 

 very good ones. Some 15 years ago, he and one 

 of his neighbors purchased a bull, half Ayrshire, 

 andkept him for the use of the neighborhood, and 

 the result has been, that the stock has been a good 

 deal improved. He thinks the Devons are very 

 hardy and keep in flesh well through the winter. 

 Ayrshire cows make more butter, and the butter 

 keeps better than that from other cows. 



The President made some inquiries respecting 

 abortion in cows. This is becoming a very com- 

 mon occurrence and a serious evil. He inquired 

 if any one could assign a cause for this? 



Several gentlemen observed this had frequently 

 happened within their observation of late, but as- 

 signed no reason for it. Mr. Sprague said that 

 in his county, the butchers found the calves in a 

 certain neighborhood were very fine, and they 

 w ere willing to pay from fifty cents to a dollar more 

 for them than for other calves, and this was found 

 to be the result of the introduction of a certain 

 bull into the neighborhood. This was a matter 

 of no small importance. In England the breeding 

 has been carried on by the best males. He re- 

 ferred to the practice of breeding in and in ; an 

 idea prevails in this country that this deteriorates 

 the breed. In England a different idea prevails, 

 and it is by this mode that the Devon Stock has 

 been especially improved. 



Mr. Amasa Walker had nothing to say but 

 what he had said before upon other occasions. — 

 We talk about native stock and foreign stock. But 

 it was all one stock. The only question is, which 

 has been longest in the country. Our fathers 

 brought the best stock they could find. Other 

 stock has been imported since. But we cannot 

 re-produce stocks imported, anymore than we can 



breed Englishmen. Although we are from the 

 same stock, we are not Englishmen. Under the 

 different climatic, dietetic and social influences we 

 are very different from Englishmen. We are less 

 muscular and more active and nervous. We are 

 now importing largely the muscles of Englishmen 

 and Irishmen to labor for us. We have brains 

 enough, we do not need to import them. Our 

 object must be to improve our stock by crossing. 

 The raising of foreign stock is usually very expen- 

 sive. It will do for amateur farmers. He has a 

 fine pair of oxen. lie knows none finer, three- 

 fourths Durham, — but they have been very ex- 

 pensive. So of some cows he has had. They 

 were fine cows, but expensive. He has one small 

 native cow that cost much less, and costs much 

 less in keeping ; but she gives milk of fine quality 

 and in large quantity and his women tell him that 

 she is the best cow he has. Select such cows and 

 breed from them by crossing and we shall get good 

 cows. 



Mr. Sprague did not agree with Mr. W. He 

 thinks it very important to have good blood. If 

 we get a good cow from such crosses as Mr. W. 

 referred to, it would be accidental. We were not 

 sure of it. Purify the blood, is a fundamental 

 principle in stock breeding. 



jMr. Smith, of Lincoln, said if we select the best 

 native stock, and cross with imported — we can im- 

 prove the stock. He has seen this demonstrated 

 in the case of what is called the Prentiss stock in 

 his neighborhood. Mr. Lewis, of Framingham, 

 said he was surprised to hear it said that it costs 

 more to raise foreign stock than native. He 

 thinks this is not true except in the case of Dur- 

 hams. He has an Alderney that yields one lb. of 

 butter to 6 quarts of milk. Now, he mixes her 

 milk with that of his other cows and gets 1 lb. to 

 eight quarts. It usually takes 10 quarts to a lb. 



Mr. Brown said that the cow that makes the 

 most butter, will not always make the largest 

 calf. 



Dr. Reynolds thought the cow that gives the 

 richest milk would make the fattest calf. Fat oil, 

 of which butter chiefly consists, will make fat, 

 but not bone and muscle. The caseine which 

 abounds in curd, contains a large amount of nitro- 

 gen. This is essential to the formation of muscle. 

 Hence milk that yields the most cheese will make 

 the largest and most meaty calves, but not the 

 fattest. 



Mr. Fren'Ch, of Exeter, was a believer in blood. 

 He said we were in the habit of importing into 

 this country live stock from the coast of Africa 

 with black skins and curly hair, and he would in- 

 quire how long it would take if it was bred in and 

 in to change it, in this country into red skin with 

 long straight hair. He thought it would take 

 some time to run out the blood. You can no 

 more get a Durham from a Devon i than an Indioj:i 



