288 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



satisfied tliey can use their pastures and bay in a more profitable 

 manner. 



Tbere are about twenty-five towns in which the production of 

 milk to sell is the leading pursuit. Seventeen of these towns I 

 have full returns from in regard to this product. I find that 

 there was 2,302,691 gallons sold in 1865. The average price 

 received by the farmers was about twenty-one cents a gallon, 

 which would amount to $483,565.11 in the seventeen towns. 

 This does not include the amount consumed within the towns 

 !br making butter, cheese, fattening large quantities of veal, and 

 for family use. Some of the towns return as much as $8,000 a 

 year for the veal alone. I am also very certain that the amount 

 of milk sold is really much more than the amount returned, as 

 I find that the large milk dealers are unwilling to give much 

 information on the subject, and are desirous to represent their 

 business as small as possible. 



These same towns also produce large quantities of fruit, vege- 

 tables, pork and beef, which are sold in the cities ; and they 

 supply many small manufacturing establishments within their 

 own borders. In these seventeen towns there are 9,974 cows — 

 about three-fourths in milk. The high price of cows has awak- 

 ened the attention of farmers to the importance of raising more 

 stock, and there have been more heifers than usual raised the 

 last year. Still, tliere have not been as many as the high prices 

 would seem to warrant. 



In twenty-four towns there are 225 full blood Jersey cattle, 

 74 Ayrshires, 31 Durhams, 18 Dutch. These comprise all the 

 principal stocks within the county. Still, there are quite a 

 number of scattering full-blood animals, not enumerated in the 

 accompanying list, mostly owned in the vicinity of Boston. 

 There are also a large number of grade animals, more particu- 

 larly of the Jerseys and Ayrshires, which are very generally 

 distributed about the county. 



