SECRETARY'S REPORT. 35 



that it could, within a reasonable length of time, be made a 

 source of great profit? And let no one say that the demand 

 would soon be supplied. The demand for a higher class of 

 stock is constantly increasing, and in a proportion much greater 

 than the supply. In 1853, tliere were but about seventy-live 

 pure-bred Jerseys in the State. Now they are numbered by 

 thousands, and yet the price of that stock has increased more 

 than a hundred per cent, since that date, and the supply, at the 

 present moment, is far less than the demand. There are Jersey 

 breeders who can take 150 apiece for all their heifer calves the 

 moment they are dropped, and otiiers who are ready to give that. 



But I leave the matter of profit entirely out of the question, 

 as being wholly secondary to the main object the State should 

 have in view, which is the public good, which requires that 

 there should be some central establishments where the farmer 

 may know where to go and get what he wants, in the shape of a 

 good and pure-bred cow, and which should exercise an elevating 

 influence on the character of the stock in the sections where 

 they are located. 



The only plausible objection that can be raised, it seems to 

 me, is the fact that to begin to carry out the plan in a manner 

 worthy of the State, would require men at the head of these 

 public institutions who were disposed to give their attention to 

 the matter, interested in its success, and competent to select 

 and cull judiciously, in the matter of buying and selling. I am 

 aware that it requires a peculiar and high class of talent to 

 become a successful breeder of stock. There are few Bake wells, 

 few Collings, few Bateses, even among farmers themselves. I 

 am aware, too, that the men selected for these responsible 

 positions are not apt to be familiar with herd-books, not apt to 

 appreciate the importance of following the strict line of descent, 

 or of resorting to a strain here and another there, to remedy a 

 defective point in stock, and to build up those parts in which an 

 animal may happen to be deficient, by the use of other animals 

 in which these parts are more perfectly developed. All this is 

 true. 



But this objection is by no means insuperable. Stock- 

 breeding is an art, upon the study of which it is difficult to 

 enter without becoming fascinated with it. It offers a field for 

 the unlimited exercise of the highest genius and skill. ^ The 



