190 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Chester ; Sessions and Lyman, of "Wilbraham ; C. L. Biiell, of 

 Ludlow ; Wilbur Wilson, of Agawam ; Justin Ely, of West 

 Springfield ; and G. Munson, of Huntington. The well-known 

 herds of Messrs. Wells and Paoli Lathrop, of South Hadley, 

 although out of the county, are so near its northern limit as 

 to exert a salutary influence upon Hampden County stock. 



The Ayrshires, it is believed, were first introduced into the 

 county on the 15th of April, 1849. The Massachusetts Society 

 for the Promotion of Agriculture, that year, gave to the Hamp- 

 den Agricultural Society the two-year old Ayrshire bull, 

 " Swinley," whose great-grand-dam was known as the " short- 

 tail cow that took more first prizes than any animal in Scot- 

 land," and whose grand-dam could make seventeen pounds of 

 butter per week, and was considered at that time the best cow 

 ever imported. His sire was the imported bull, " Roscoe," 

 owned by Captain Randall, of Boston, and descended from the 

 best milking stock of Scotland. The conditions of the gift 

 were that he should be kept in the county, that he should not 

 be put to service under the age of two years and six months, 

 and that the Hampden Society should annually report the 

 number and character of his progeny. This bull was kept 

 several years by Deacon Daniel Merrick, of West Springfield, 

 and latterly by Major William Burt, of Longmeadow ; and his 

 stock, although grades, are favorably known in those towns as 

 good milkers. Justin Ely, of West Springfield, has now some 

 of the finest specimens of this progeny known. 



In May, 1850, the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion 

 of Agriculture, presented the Hampden Agricultural Society 

 the full-blooded Ayrshire cow, " Flora McDonald." She was 

 old and destitute of teeth when received. Colonel Edward 

 Parsons, of West Springfield, kept her several years, obtaining 

 as issue only an inferior bull calf, which subsequently died on 

 the hands of Elisha T. Parsons, of Ludlow. The cow was 

 finally sold at auction for about twelve dollars, and died, 

 leaving none of her progeny in the county. In 1858, William 

 Birnie, of Springfield, purchased fourteen head of pure Ayr- 

 shires, the entire herd of E. P. Prentiss, of Albany. He has 

 now twenty-nine of these creatures, most of which are very 

 superior milkers. 



