xxiv APPENDIX. 



HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND HAMPDEN. 



The annual exhibition of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden 

 Agricultural Society was held at«Northampton, on Thursday and Fri- 

 day, October 6th and 7th. The collection of cattle, though not so 

 large as has been exhibited on former occasions, was highly creditable 

 in quality. The Shorthorns, which have so long been bred in this 

 region, predominated, and presented all the attractions for which that 

 breed is so remarkable. It is doubtful whether, in any other part of 

 New lilngland, the introduction of this blood has been pursued with so 

 much care, and attended with so much success, as in this. The selection 

 and breeding of pure-bred herds have been pursued here with great 

 judgment and diligence, by men who would have made their mark as 

 farmers, in any section of the country. And it is well known that some 

 of the most successful attempts at tile improvement of cattle by long- 

 continued admixture of Shorthorned blood, have been made within the 

 limits of this society. Nature has done much to encourage this branch 

 of industry in this valley and the territory adjoining. It is here that 

 the most successful experiments in reclaiming pasture lands have been 

 made ; and the soil has seldom refused to furnish an abundance of 

 herbage, when it has been subjected to judicious treatment. 



The herds of Paoli Lathrop, Esq. and Milo J. Smith, Esq., in which 

 the best Shorthorned blood has been introduced and kept in all its 

 purity, were exhibited as specimens of the quality of that breed of 

 cattle, which has done so much for the agriculture of the valley of the 

 Connecticut ; and they certainly bore strong testimony in favor of the 

 family to Avhich they belong. 



Passing from these to the grade animals, whose parentage on the 

 male side has been kept pure for many generations, and which represent 

 the value of this mode of breeding, we come to the herd of the Messrs. 

 Anderson, of Shelburne. The excellence of these animals is a striking 

 illustration of what can be done by diligent attention to the selection of 

 breeding animals, and by a careful and patient effort to render a farm 

 well adapted to a rapid development of the animal structure. Not 

 many years ago, the farm of the Messrs. Anderson corresponded pretty 

 well, both as regards stock and condition of the pastures and tillage 

 lands, with most of the farms about it. It was then capable of produc- 

 ing ordinary crops and ordinary cattle. Now its pastures in summer, 

 and its mowing lands for winter, are capable of feeding such animals 

 that nineteen of them weigh 26,500 pounds, and bear all the proportions 

 of the most thrifty cattle. An increase of weight to the amount of 500 

 pounds in one year, has frequently been made by some of these animals. 

 And it would be a most interesting and valuable addition to the agricul- 



