102 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



might multiply many more instances to illustrate our point, 

 that farmers should keep a large number of cows and keep them 

 well, but we forbear, and close this general subject by simply 

 referring you to Mr. Secretary Flint's Treatise on Milch Cows 

 and Dairy Farming. 



October 4, 1865. 



Norman T. Leonard, Chairman. 



HIGHLAND. 



From the Report of the Cormniliee. 



Your committee on milch and stock cows report as follows : 

 They fully believe that no class of domestic animals better pays 

 for care and attention in breeding. When considered in the 

 liglit of machines for transforming the products of the soil into 

 those necessary articles of consumption — milk, butter and cheese 

 — it is well to investigate the matter, to find out whether we have 

 just the right kind of animals for producing these, in the greatest 

 quantity, from a given amount of food, and at the same time 

 not lose sight of the fact, that when fattened for beef, the most 

 valuable parts shall be well developed, for obtaining the highest 

 price in the market. 



Wo have these ideas illustrated by a fine cow entered by 

 Mr. Elisha Strong, of Northampton. She is said to have made 

 fourteen pounds of butter in one week, and she is nearly perfect 

 in those points which go to make a beef-producing animal. We 

 believe that the splendid-looking oxen which have graced our 

 fair ground to-day, have in nearly every instance descended 

 from dams possessing their best qualities in a high degree. A 

 well-shaped cow may sometimes produce a poor calf, but an 

 ill-shaped cow seldom drops a good one. To prove the ideas 

 sound, draw a comparison between the average merits of cattle 

 exhibited at the various fairs of the present day, with those of 

 thirty years ago, and we shall, find that great results have been 

 obtained by careful attention to breeding. 



The difference in product of milk and butter from two cows 

 of equal size and weight, feeding in the same pasture in summer, 

 and foddering from the same mow in winter, is enough to make 

 a large item when the farmer strikes his balance sheet at the 

 end of the year. 



