52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and a tendency to fatten well are of transcendent importance 

 to the Western farmer who breeds to supply the stalls in our 

 Eastern markets, and he was quick to see how he could im- 

 prove the intrinsic qualities of his stock in these respects. 



In the Eastern portions of the country the dairy early 

 became the leading object of pursuit. Size and fattening 

 properties were of less account, and hence we find that 

 modern importations for that section have consisted chiefly of 

 the celebrated dairy breeds, of which the Ayrshires and the 

 Jerseys have taken the lead, according to the special object 

 proposed. These importations have been especially numerous 

 within the last twenty years, till they have greatly modified 

 the stock. In Massachusetts, for example, in 1853 there 

 were less than seventy-five pure-bred Jerseys in the whole 

 State. Now they number several thousands, and single herds 

 now contain more pure and high-bred animals of this breed 

 than could have been found in the State twenty years ago. 

 And the same remark applies to the Ayrshires. 



While the constant introduction of improved cattle from 

 abroad has efli'ected a very marked general improvement in 

 the quality of our animals, the universal interest in cattle- 

 husbandry has led to greater knowledge of stock, to better 

 systems of feeding and management, and so to more satisfac- 

 tory results. No longer ago than 1841, Mr. Colman, a well- 

 known agriculturist, remarked that the general treatment 

 of cows at that time, in New England, would not be an inapt 

 subject of presentment by a grand jury. Now they are bet- 

 ter sheltered, better fed, and more tenderly treated. 



And Avhile this progress in the improvement of the intriu- 



this celebrated herd was sold at auction in 1850, after the death of Mr. Bates. At 

 this sale, Col. Morris of New York bought several of the Oxford familj', also estab- 

 lished by Bates, and forming a part of his lierd, and numbers 5, 6, 10, and 13 came 

 to New York, together with the famous bull "Romeo," bought of the Maniuis of 

 Exeter, in the same year. In 1853, again. Col. Morris and Mr. Becar l)ought at Earl 

 Ducie's great sale. Duchess 66 and the Duke of Gloucester. In 1856, Col. Morris, then 

 sole proprietor of these choice animals and their progeny, sold fifty head of them to 

 Samuel Thome of Westchester County, New York, who had also purchased at Earl 

 Ducie's sale, in 1853, the cows Duchess 59, 64, and 68, and that most perfect of all his 

 kind " Grand Duke," at over a thousand pounds sterling. In 1857, Mr. Thonie sold 

 his whole herd to J. 0. Slieldon of Geneva, N. Y., who, after breeding it ten years 

 with great skill, in 18G7 sold the herd to Wolcott & Canipl)ell of New York Mills, 

 near Utica, N. Y. Mr. Campbell became sole proprietor of the herd in 1872, to sell 

 again in 1873, with the result stated above. 



