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tute a perfect ox. The great law that like produces like, 

 " though it is not invariable," is an important consideration for 

 all stock growers. If good qualities are propagated bj the 

 union of animals possessing good qualities, and if it is desirable 

 to propagate a race of animals, that do not deteriorate by 

 breeding, " in and in," the Ayrshire, Devon, Durham and 

 Hereford, come to us as the self-preserving families. 



In relation to the Ayrshire ox, the pen of the historian has 

 ever been inkless, and it is only through record of the Stock- 

 bridge and Lenox Farmers' Club, that we learn that they 

 possess great hardihood of constitution and the elements for 

 early maturity. The action, docility and tractability of the 

 Devon ox is second to no other, and from its uniformity of color 

 it is easily matched ; its beef is of a fine quality, though it does 

 not attain to the weight of many other breeds, and is inclined 

 to be (when slaughtered) minus in some of the better points. 



The Hereford family is entitled to a test trial by the farmers 

 of Berkshire. With good points, good actions and good con- 

 stitutions, they ought not to be excluded from our hillsides, for 

 the lone reason that their faces are white. 



The eye would be slow to weep, could it always range among 

 the Durham family and view the splendid forms of their oxen. 

 Like the trees of the forest, the full bloods have their appro- 

 priate clime and soil. The annual exhibitions of Durham oxen, 

 steers and cows, prove beyond a doubt, that our New England 

 clime is congenial to their growth, and that the sweet grasses 

 and waters of Berkshire will nourish and nurture the massive 

 frame of the Durham. 



D. D. Kendall, Chairman. 



WORCESTER. 



From the Report of the Committee on Fat Cattle. 

 All animals, to fat well, must not only be fed well at stated 

 hours, but must be made comfortable at all times, by giving 

 them warm quarters when the fattening operation commences ; 

 and as they increase in fat, colder quarters, even under open 

 sheds on the snow, in preference to a tight barn, with boards 

 matched and every crack closed to keep out the air. A very 

 fat ox is seldom if ever cold, and always requires the pure air 



