176 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



surplus funds. If farmers would make it a point to raise their 

 own cows, we should have a much better milking stock than we 

 now have. 



Whatever breed the farmer keeps, whether Jersey, Ayrshire, 

 Shorthorn, Devon or grade stock, the cow requires proper care 

 and food. The better care and keeping she receives, the larger 

 return she makes. Yet how often do we see them standing out 

 in cold, windy or stormy days in March without shelter ; or in 

 the fall, to obtain their food, are let out in frosty mornings to 

 eat the stiff and frozen grass, which affords them but very 



trifling nourishment. 



Augustus Lane, Chairman. 



PLYMOUTH. 



From the Report of the Committee on Bulls. 



The trustees have, very wisely as we think, excluded from 

 premiums any but bulls of distinct breed. In your offer for 

 premiums you specified by name the Jersey, the Ayrshire, the 

 Devon, and then say " for any other pure blood." The only 

 other pure-blooded bulls that have competed for the society's 

 premiums are the Durham and Dutch breeds. The Herefords, 

 Kerrys and Jamestowns, have never been offered, we believe, 

 if the latter may be called a distinct breed. Permit us to make 

 a brief statement as to the different breeds and the encourage- 

 ment these breeds should receive, as we think, from the farmers 

 of the Old Colony. 



The Jerseys or Alderneys are one of the oldest breeds known, 

 their history extending back several hundred years, some say a 

 thousand or more. In our own country they have been like 

 most of the other breeds, of recent introduction, but by natural 

 increase and fresh importations they have become the most nu- 

 merous of the imported breeds except, perhaps, the Durham or 

 Shorthorn. Their introduction into the Old Colony was but 

 about twenty years since, some we think, by direct importation. 

 Nahum Stetson, of Bridgewater, Seth Bryant, of East Bridge- 

 water, and C. G. Davis, of Plymouth, have been large owners 

 and raisers of this stock ; latterly several gentlemen in Hingham, 

 besides a large number who own from two to eight animals. 

 The advantages claimed for the breed are : First, the richness 



