NEAT STOCK. 251 



that can be purchased at a low price, will, they think, answer 

 the purpose of a bull, that will cost considerably more. With 

 such a state of things, but little improvement can be expected in 

 our stock. 



We cannot reasonably expect much improvement, unless both 

 parents are of superior quality ; and if we expect to improve 

 our milch cows, the parents should both be of a breed that pos- 

 sess good milking qualities. If the bull is selected because he 

 has a fine form, or for other qualities foreign from the subject, 

 we cannot expect that good milking qualities can be transmitted 

 through him. 



Another subject of considerable importance, is the quality of 

 the milk, (I mean to those who use it for dairy purposes, and 

 that those who sell milk may save the credit of selling watered 

 milk,) as it is not always the cow that gives the greatest quan- 

 tity of milk, that is worth the most for a dairy ; therefore it is 

 desirable that every dairy-man should know the quality of each 

 cow's milk ; and here we are liable to fall into an error in com- 

 paring the several cows' milk. A cow that has recently dropped 

 her calf, and gives a large quantity of milk, does not give milk 

 of so good a quality as after she has been milked some length of 

 time, and the quantity fs somewhat reduced. Hence it has been 

 often said by those who have kept a farrow cow for making but- 

 ter, that a much greater quantity is produced in proportion to 

 the quantity of milk, than when the cow gave a large quantity. 



In regard to the best breed of cattle, whether foreign, native, 

 or mixed, there are different opinions. There has been more 

 or less stock imported for more than two hundred years, and 

 during the whole time it has been mixing with native stock, or 

 that which was previously here ; so that now it is somewhat 

 difficult in most cases, to designate what is, or rather what is 

 not, mixed breed. Hence it is not uncommon for the progeny 

 of a red cow and red bull to be ring-streaked or speckled, not 

 because of their being rods placed in the watering troughs, as 

 was done by one of old, but because they are a mixed breed. 

 There are many good cattle in the county, and it matters little 

 what they are called, whether native or mixed ; and if farmers 

 will breed from superior stock and no other, great improvement 

 will be the result. 



Joseph How, Chairman. 



