66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



The 3d premium to William Eames, of Worcester, for his cow, 

 Fanny, ^ Devon and ^ native. 



Your committee think that the farmers of Massachusetts have not 

 given sufficient attention to the production of milk, forming as it 

 does a portion of the sustenance of almost every family in its simple 

 form, and entering still more largely into general consumption in the 

 form of butter and cheese, it takes rank at once as one of our lead- 

 ing agricultural productions ; and it becomes a question of the highest 

 importance to the farmer, how the largest production and the best 

 quality can be obtained with the least expense in fodder. As a gen- 

 eral rule, grass in the summer and hay in the winter, will form the 

 principal food of our stock, and to what extent, and in what propor- 

 tion, we may substitute for these grain or roots, so as to obtain the 

 largest relative returns, is a question by no means decided by actual 

 experiment — and the farmers who shall settle this question by a series 

 of such experiments carefully conducted, will make a large addition 

 to the profits of agriculture in Massachusetts. 



Your committee found a great difference of opinion in regard to 

 the value of the different breeds of cattle for the dairy ; and they 

 would suggest, whether this may not be owing in no small degree to 

 the great variety of pasturage fi.und in the different portions of the 

 State. Cannot the State agricultural society, by a careful collection of 

 facts and results upon these and similar subjects, do much to reduce 

 agriculture to a more exact science, and thus enable the young 

 farmer to enjoy the benefit of the larger experience of those, who for 

 H series of years by careful, well-conducted experiments, have sought 

 out the most approved methods of agriculture. 

 For the committee, 



William Mixtek, Chairman. 

 Boston, July 21, 1857. 



The committee on milch cows, under five years old, submit- 

 ted the following 



REPORT: 



The committee on milch cows, under five years old, award the first 

 piemium to Warren Ordway, of Bradford. 



Second premiiim to William Robinson, Jr., of Barre, for his cow, 

 " Flora." 



Third premium to Samuel Ellsworth, of Barre. 



The report of a committee, to be of value, should be made up of 

 facts. Opinions and speculations, vague and uncertain as they gen- 



