ABSTRACT. 



MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING 

 AGRICULTURE. 



The President and Secretary of the Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture, report to the Secretary of the Com- 

 monwealth, as is made their duty to do, by the statute of 

 1847, that the records of their transactions are made, as here- 

 tofore, mostly of reports concerning the care of the imported 

 Alderney stock. 



It is well known that the attention of the Trustees has long 

 been directed to the important and disputed question, how far 

 and in what way our native breed of cattle may be improved by 

 the admixture of foreign races, and more particularly, which 

 of these races, from its valuable qualities, for work, or for the 

 dairy, and its capacity of thriving in our climate, and under 

 the degree of care and protection which can be conveniently 

 given to it by our farmers, would best repay the expense and 

 trouble necessarily incident on its first introduction. These 

 reasons, as is well known, led the Society, some years since, 

 to purchase and to import several fine animals, of the North 

 Devon and Ayrshire breeds. As soon as the stock was suffi- 

 ciently multiplied, pairs of one or the other of these breeds 

 were distributed to all our County Societies ; and those not so 

 disposed of, were sold on account of this Society. As far as 

 respects the Ayrshire breed, the result of the experiments is 

 less satisfactory than was expected. 



It would be unsafe to assert, that the introduction of a race 



so highly esteemed in Europe, on account of its value for the 



purposes of the dairy, has been productive of no advantage to 



our stock. It is certainly not improbable that some good 



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