86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of dairy stock as any other part of the business of feeding that 

 is known to the farmer. I offer these suggestions, in a hasty 

 way, with the most entire confidence in your good judgment, 

 and with a desire to learn of you. I only state these things for 

 your discussion. I was called upon to open the debate ; I have 

 endeavored to do so ; and now I trust there is some one ready 

 to controvert the statements I have made, if there is really any 

 reason for their being controverted. 



The President. I have been requested to call upon Mr. T. 

 S. Gold, the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture of Con- 

 necticut. 



Mr. Gold. No one could be more surprised than myself that 

 I should be called upon at this time to address this audience ; 

 but the subject of dairy farming, and the vast interests con- 

 nected with it, have been so strongly impressed upon my mind, 

 that, even without any premeditation or thought at all that I 

 should be called upon here, I cannot fail to embrace this oppor- 

 tunity to say a few words at this time. 



I most heartily concur in many of the points which Dr. Lor- 

 ing has made upon the subject of the class of cattle that we 

 need for dairy purposes. I believe, with him, that there are 

 families of the Durham or Shorthorn stock that are admirably 

 adapted to the needs of tke dairy. We have the fullest evidence 

 before us that in the valley of the Connecticut, and some other 

 sections of our country, there are strains of blood of this class 

 of cattle that are unsurpassed for dairy stock. We have farm- 

 ers there of the greatest sagacity and skill in breeding, who 

 claim, and we believe with justice, that they can make more 

 milk out of that class of stock than any other upon their rich 

 and abundant pastures. But, on the other hand, we have other 

 sections of Connecticut an4 Massachusetts where our hilly lands 

 and more scanty pastures demand a different class of stock. 

 We have men who have thoroughly examined this subject, who 

 have tried the different classes of cattle, and who have come to 

 the conclusion, as the result of their experience, that a smaller 

 animal is better adapted to their wants. I heartily concur in 

 the points made by Dr. Loring in that particular. 



In regard to the last point upon which he spoke, whether we 

 shall turn the cattle into our meadows in the autumn, I will 

 say, that in the section where I belong we are decidedly in favor, 



