SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



15 



witliout any known good ancestry, is expected to produce good 

 heifer calves. Without much care for the male, we set her at 

 the work — she transmits her poor qualities, perhaps increased 

 by the sire, and her good ones disappear. A large cow is 

 selected for the purpose of raising oxen, her size being her only 

 recommendation. She may be a bad feeder, a bad handler, a 

 bad mover, in fact deficient in those very points which render 

 an ox good for the yoke and the stall. "We breed from her, 

 and she disappoints our expectations. We choose a good cow 

 for choice breeding, unmindful of the quality of the bull which 

 has been previously coupled with her ; and we are astonished, 

 and mortified, and discouraged, to find that she produces 

 any thing but what we desired and expected. 



r3S7%5^,*-»„--:.-^ -.^ 



Ayrshire Cow, "Jessie." 



BREEDING, — THE FEMALE FOR THE DAIRY. 



If we would improve our native stock, therefore, we should 

 begin by a careful selection of females, from the best herds 

 already established, care being taken to consider always the 

 objects we have in view. No matter what the yield of milk from 

 a cow may be, she should not be selected for a breeder, unless 

 she possesses as an inheritance, that shape which indicates 

 strong vitality, and that quality which indicates active 

 secretory functions. She should have — Head of medium 

 size, with a strong, well-marked, bony structure, broad be- 

 tween and high above the ey^s, and wide between the roots of 

 the horns, with a capacious but not clumsy muzzle, full nostril, 



