178 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



In some uncertainty as to the precise intention of the society, 

 the committee, where they have been able to agree in concUision, 

 have awarded the premiums to the animal which, in their 

 judgment, was the " best Durham ;" not wishing thereby to be 

 understood as adjudging the successful animal to be the Dur- 

 ham cow, or bull, best for the farmers of this county. Indeed, 

 if the necessity had been imposed of determining superiority by 

 reference to the wants of the farmers of the county singly, it is 

 not too much to say, that in some instances, the unsuccessful 

 animals would have become the successful ones. A cow is of 

 little value here^ regarded merely in the light of her capacity 

 for beef. 



The Durhams, or more technically, the improved Short-horn, 

 are remarkable indeed for their propensity to lay on fat, as well 

 as for their early maturity ; yet, notwithstanding their rapid 

 growth, and large size, it is doubtful whether our farmers will 

 j&nd proper remuneration from their breeding. Of what value 

 to us is that breed of cattle, which, for nearly a century has 

 been bred with a view solely to its fattening properties. What 

 farmer have we, who would buy, or would not weed out of his 

 herd, if he possessed it, an animal whose greatest yield of milk, 

 in her period of greatest flow, was but six or eight quarts daily. 

 Not that such a cow might not have qualities, which, in other 

 climates, under different circumstances, would render her of 

 great value, but that to us farmers of "Worcester County, she 

 would be comparatively valueless. For with the cheap and 

 rapid means of transport at his command, the Western grazier 

 possesses advantages in supplying the demand for beef, wlicrever 

 existing, against which our farmers cannot successfully contend. 

 Nor is the question to be decided by reference to this point 

 merely. Our farms are encumbered with boulders and rocks ; 

 are hilly and stubborn under the plough, not adapted as are the 

 fields of other regions to cultivation by horse labor. To a large 

 extent we are and must ever be, dependent upon the slow and 

 patient ox. But we want activity here, and we can only obtain 

 it from the animal of comparatively small size, with close knit 

 joints, compact frame, clean limb and high spirit. 



But do the committee discourage the breeding of Durham 

 cattle ? So far from it, they earnestly recommend a close 

 discrimination between the different families of this breed ; and 



