30 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the proportional improvement the English stock has received 

 to the milk cows and fattening stock of the United States, or 

 even to those of New England, and one-half or one-third to 

 their weight, ripen them for the butcher at four years of age, 

 have produced from them a quality of calves superior in every 

 respect to their dams, and we at once make a long stride on the 

 road not only to individual but national wealth. To do this we 

 must ignore half-bred bulls, use only those of pure pedigree 

 and of the right form and size and proper age ; and persist in 

 selection and breeding, and not give up, as a majority are dis- 

 posed to do, if any streak of ill-luck befalls the enterprise at the 

 outset. Most if not all of our local societies have refused to 

 bestow premiums on grade bulls, and the State Board of Agri- 

 culture will soon make it imperative upon all to do so, leaving 

 it to the farmer, if he pleases, to raise and use such animals, but 

 depriving him of the opportunity of getting premiums for thus 

 hindering the march of improvement. 



A good deal is said at our agricultural meetings about certain 

 local breeds which compare favorably with the imported, and 

 because they are not recognized among the thoroughbred classes, 

 their owners feel aggrieved. But the fact is, no breed can be 

 considered established so as to insure a hereditary transmission 

 of good qualities and an inability to return to evil ones until 

 many generations have been passed, and as we have breeds 

 which two centuries have endorsed and it would take several 

 more to surpass, it is hardly worth while to attempt a competi- 

 tion. Had we the length of life of the old patriarchs when 

 courting was a seven years' pastime, and other duties of life 

 proportionately elongated, we might indulge in the luxury of 

 starting new breeds and expect to see the experiment brought 

 to a close, but with our shortened period of existence and mi- 

 gratory habits, we must rest content with what has been done 

 for us already. But we need not be satisfied with merely im- 

 proving our native stock. We can have in addition a few 

 thoroughbred animals and strive to improve upon them and 

 raise a breed of superior cows for the dairy, at the same time 

 educating ourselves into a more vivid interest in our occupa- 

 tions and add to the material improvement of the stock of the 

 country. 



When therefore there is a bull of improved breed in the 



