MILCH COWS. 109 



to be profitable for the dairy, for more than a hundred dollars 

 each. If these cows would fatten for thirty or forty dollars, — 

 which they would, — then the breeders get sixty or seventy 

 dollars clear on a cow, while the raisers of poor mongrel stock 

 get nothing. 



So that the thriving farmer will look to milk first, and then 

 to the capacity to take on flesh. A prudent merchant would 

 pay but little for a ship that he could not at some future time 

 repair and make valuable for some other business. So he who 

 purchases a house looks to see if it can be repaired without 

 costing more than it is worth. 



By what we have said, it will readily be perceived that your 

 committee are in favor of blood stock for profit. 



The next question that arises is, " Among the various blood 

 stock, which is best ? " We answer this by saying that each 

 one exceeds the other under certain circumstances. The 

 question then with us is. Which is best for poor, or at least, 

 very ordinary pastures ? that is, in a few words, which is best 

 for Nantucket ? 



With good feed, a very ordinary cow may be made a respect- 

 able milker. With poor feed, the best cow will utterly fail. 

 The farmer then should first look at his own means of feeding. 

 The Shorthorn cow is heavy ; it is troublesome to her to travel ; 

 she requires thick grass ; in fact, she wants to be " up to her 

 knees in clover," and then she will pay most richly, both as a 

 milker and for the butcher. But it would be the height of folly 

 for a farmer, who has only poor pastures, to buy Shorthorns. 



The Ayrshires are lighter on tjie foot, more nimble, capable 

 of enduring severer winters, and of recuperating readily in the 

 spring. As milkers they produce a larger quantity of milk and 

 butter, in proportion to the food they cat, than any other of the 

 pure breeds. Like all other cows, natives as well as pure 

 breeds, they will make poor things on starvation. These, how- 

 ever, will be very good cows, and perhaps the very best, for the 

 thin and meagre pasturage of Nantucket. 



The Jerseys have their peculiarities. For richness of milk, 

 and the butter made from it, no pure breed can excel them. 

 Some say that they require more tender care than the Ayrshires, 

 but, to breed in with natives that are good milkers, a very 

 superior cow would probabft/ be produced. We say "probably," 



