96 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



tion. Few, even of those engaged in raising or feeding live 

 stock, are aware of tlie enormous value of this source of the 

 farmers' wealth and the proportion it bears to the other products 

 of the soil. 



Suppose that by judicious selections, an infusion of better 

 breeds and a more accurate knowledge of the principles and 

 practice of breeding and feeding stock, we could add twenty 

 per cent, to the profit of our animals in early maturity and in 

 an increased product of milk, butter, or beef, we should have 

 an annual additional value equal to that derived from an 

 increased capital of six hundred millions. We, in New Eng- 

 land, cannot raise such splendid herds as graze the blue-grass 

 regions of the West. Our object is rather the production of 

 milk ; the feeding of cattle for the pail, rather than the shambles, 

 although beef here as elsewhere, is the ultimate end of cattle. 



It is now many years since our agriculturists have turned 

 their attention to the improvement of the native cattle by cross- 

 ing them with blood stock, and already the most happy results 

 have been attained. This is evident from the better quality 

 and earlier maturity of the stock sent to our great Eastern 

 markets, from the cattle-raising districts of the West, to say 

 nothing of the evidences of improvement nearer home. 



Our so-called natives spring from a mass of mongrel olood 

 and ill-assorted races. With such an origin, of course they can 

 possess no fixed hereditary traits, and no reliance can be placed 

 upon them as breeders. Hence, the general introduction of 

 blood stock among us constitutes a most important era in our 

 agricultural history. We have every variety of climate, soil, 

 and vegetable product, within the compass of our vast territory, 

 which extends through twenty-five degrees of latitude and fifty- 

 six of longitude, including nearly the whole temperate zone. 

 Hence, every variety of cattle can be naturalized and made to 

 flourish here. 



In New England, the Ayrshire and its grades seem best 

 adapted to the soil and the wants of the people, which demand 

 a liberal supply of [milk as an article of consumption for food. 

 We have "crossed the Ayrshires with our native stock, with the 

 happiest results, so far as our dairies are concerned. The small, 

 fawn-like Jersey cow, of the Channel Islands, has been natural- 

 ized here, and her milk, so rich in butyraceous particles, imparts 



