748 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



says, than an average for the whole month. But few cows 

 have exceeded this quantity. There is, however, a great defect 

 in this report, as the number of pounds of butter or cheese 

 that was made from her milk in a given time, is not mentioned. 

 As no particular breed can be depended upon, choose those for 

 the dairy that combine the best qualities; those whose general 

 aspect bids the fairest to make the finest milkers. Always 

 select a cow that has the most of a feminine appearance ; 

 never choose one that has the marks of the ox — a large head, 

 short, thick neck, and large fore quarters. Occasionally, one 

 of this description is very fine for milk ; but this is the excep- 

 tion, not the rule. 



There is no department of agriculture that the farmer de- 

 rives, at the present time, so great a profit from, as dairying. 

 Many towns in the westerly part of the county of Worcester 

 are giving their attention to raising stock, by bringing into 

 this part of the county, bulls of full blood, most of the Durham 

 breed ; and many of the dairy cows are a cross of the native 

 with this or some other foreign blood. There are many very 

 fine dairies in New Braintree, Barre, Hardwick, and consider- 

 able butter and cheese is made in Petersham, and other towns 

 in this vicinity. No large dairies like Col. Meacham's and 

 others in the State of New York ; but few farmers keep more 

 than 30 or 40 cows, most of them not so many. The amount 

 of butter and cheese made in the above towns I have not the 

 means of knowing, but it is large, and of a superior quality. 

 New Braintree has, for many years, been known in the 

 market for her superior cheese, but, like the Minisenk butter, 

 immense quantities have been palmed upon the world, that 

 had no other of its traits than the New Braintree mark. We 

 can judge something of the value of dairying, in this region, 

 from the circumstance that many farmers, who can keep but a 

 few cattle, stock their farms almost wholly with dairy cows, 

 not even keeping a pair of oxen, but doing their farm-work, 

 principally, with a horse. This part of the county, like many 

 other parts, possesses good land for dairy purposes, produoing, 

 many years, much white clover and other grasses celebrated for 

 increasing the lactean secretion. We find no particular ac- 

 count in the census returns from the different States that will 

 enable us to give the number of milch cows in the Union. In 



