498 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



of cows, kept by the farmer. The yield of the animal, or ani- 

 mals, in milk, in butter and in cheese, is required, for a given 

 time, as a condition and ground of awarding their premiums, 

 evidently with a view of effecting improvement in the milking 

 properties of the cow, and raising the average standard. 



In other societies, this object seems to be wholly, or in part, 

 overlooked. Premiums are offered for the best milch cows, but 

 no rules are prescribed, nor statements required to determine 

 their yield in milk, and rarer still the amount of butter made 

 therefrom. The decision as to the comparative excellence of 

 the cows presented at the shows, seems to be left to the com- 

 mittee's own judgment, formed simply from an inspection of 

 the animals, and such information as may be gained on the 

 spot, from their owners. It is all left to the eye and the ear of 

 the committees ; the standard varies with every new commit- 

 tee, and as their reports seldom give the grounds of their 

 awards, the public derive but little or no valuable information. 

 Premiums, too, are offered for the best butter and cheese, of a 

 certain number of pounds in the sample exhibited, — and in 

 some instances, is also required the process of the manufacture 

 of the article — but no certificates are required of the amount 

 manufactured for any specified time. The quality of the butter 

 or cheese, is here the only ground, or the principal one, on 

 which the decision is made ; to the skill of the dairy-maid is in 

 effect awarded the premium. 



There can be no question, as it seems to the committee, that 

 with regard to milch cows, their yield in milk at least, should 

 be required, and for such a length of time, and under such cir- 

 cumstances of feed and treatment, as to test, fully and fairly, 

 their character as milch cows. But the question arises, — and 

 it is an important one, — shall premiums continue to be offered, 

 as heretofore, for single cows, or for a number of cows sufii- 

 cient to constitute a dairy, a part or all of which shall have 

 been raised by the competitor? Besides our own practice, we 

 find that the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the New York State 

 Agricultural Society, and other of the leading societies in this 

 country, offer their premiums for the best single cows. The 

 Worcester Society, in this State, has recently adopted the plan 



