28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



The cross with the short-horn may perhaps be recommended 

 on other i^TOunds. The form becomes ordinarily more symmet 

 rical, while there is little or no risk of lessening the milking 

 qualities of the offspring. The experience of the best breeders 

 in all countries has pretty well established the truth of a prin- 

 ciple which experiment will only still farther confirm, that in 

 the breeding of animals, it is the male which gives the external 

 form, or the bony and muscular system of the young, while the 

 female imparts the respiratory organs, the circulation of the 

 blood, the mucus membranes, the organs of secretion, &c., and 

 if this principle, now generally conceded by practical breeders, 

 is true, it follows that the milking qualities come chiefly from 

 the mother, and that the bull could, in no respect, alter the 

 conditions which determine the transmission of these qualities, 

 especially when they are as strongly marked as they are in the 

 Ayrshire or the Jersey races. The best milkers I have ever 

 known in the course of my own observations, w^ere grade Ayr- 

 shires, larger in size than the pure bloods, but still sufficiently 

 high grades to give certain signs of their origin. This cross 

 would, therefore, seem to possess the advantage of combining to 

 some extent the two qualities of milking and adaptation to beef, 

 and this is no small recommendation to the stock of farmers 

 situated as we are, who wish to milk for some years and then 

 turn over to the butcher. But opinions differ on this point. 



The Ayrshires have been imported into this country to con- 

 siderable extent. The most extensive herds in this State, are 

 those of George W. Lyman, of Waltham, and Luke Sweetser, 

 of Amherst. 



There has been no Ayrshire herd-book published, tliough 

 some record of pedigrees seems to be as desirable for this race 

 as for some of the others. 



The premiums offered for this race in the schedule referred 

 to, were the same as those for short-horns. 



The list of entries of Ayrshires for the State Fair, were as 

 follows :- — 



1. — Bull, " Prince Albert," owned by Leonard Hoar, Lincoln. 

 2. — Bull, " Wacliusett," 5 years old, owned by John Brooks, Jr., Prince- 

 ton. 



