STOCK. 183 



the climate, the pastures and the wants of the farmers of our 

 county. 



Shall the improved Short-horn, which, in the language of one 

 of the most eminent breeders of this stock, applied to his own 

 animal, does not furnish milk enough to bring up her own calf, 

 — round barrelled, fine boned, well conditioned, smoothly and 

 beautifully built and duly authenticated by the book, bear 

 away our prizes from the more unpretending old-fashioned 

 Yorkshire or Teeswater, of the same early maturity, of equally 

 large size and of far greater milking capacity, though of coarser 

 build and less beautiful in form ? In other words, will the society 

 determine what rule shall govern its committees ? determine 

 this vexed question of pedigree ? Shall the cow presenting 

 unmistakable signs of her descent, vouched by her owner as of 

 pure blood, be admitted to competition ? Of more consequence 

 still, shall it not be a condition precedent to a successful compe- 

 tition, that the cow shall exhibit unmistakable evidence of her 

 ability to satisfy the first great want for which our dairies are 

 kept — that of producing milk ? 



Without intending in the slightest degree to disparage the 

 improved Short-horn, may we not, and ouglft we not, refrain 

 from bestowing premiums upon any, which are not emphati- 

 cally milch cows ? These questions have been stumbling blocks 

 in the path of the committee. Without consultation with his 

 associates, they are presented at such length, without apology, 

 by the chairman, that the society, by disposing of them, may 

 open the way for a more general competition and more satisfac- 

 tory award of its prizes. 



Propriety requires the statement of the fact, that those of the 

 committee who were competitors for premium, took no part in 

 the deliberations of the committee while the merits of the 

 animals among which their own were entered, were under 

 consideration, and of course had no agency in determining the 

 result. 



W. S. Lincoln, Chairman. 



