30 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



skill and intelligence as can be found even in the old country, 

 has stamped the stock of this section with points of value seldom 

 equalled. I had often been struck with the excellence of the 

 cows in the Aroostook region, and thence to the Bay of Fundy 

 — a well-bred, hardy, dairy-looking race of animals ; and I soon 

 discovered that some choice Ayrshires had been brought into 

 that country. The oxen of Meredith Bridge and Lake Winni- 

 pisseogee — who has not admired their stately carriage, their 

 rich color, their symmetry of form, their thrift, and their size 

 and endurance ? They are the modern Devon blood mixed 

 with Short-horn, and engrafted upon that soil, and brought to a 

 high degree of perfection by judicious care. In an obscure 

 town in Essex County, Massachusetts, there was a remarkable 

 cow, known of all men thereabouts, distinguished from all " the 

 old red stock," for her outline, her milking qualities, her 

 beauty ; her owner said she was English ; on inquiry, I found 

 that she had descended from a herd of Ayrshires, brought into 

 the country many years ago, and now nearly extinct. There 

 are certain portions of Essex County where I can almost always 

 replenish my herd of cows without much difficulty, and with 

 many chances of finding good animals ; and I always find that 

 either Parsons imported into those regions, or such men as 

 Pickering and Newell brought among us choice imported ani- 

 mals from other parts of the State. And I think you will find 

 that whether you are searching for beef or milk, as a general 

 rule, the farther you get from the " old red stock " the better 

 off you will be, always granting that they possess certain quali- 

 ties which furnish an excellent opportunity for improvement, 



I was called to account last winter by one of the religious 

 newspapers of the day, which seemed for the time to have 

 strayed away from that fold to which it was specially devoted, 

 because in the agricultural discussions of the legislative season 

 I had advocated the importation of cattle, and the introduction 

 of the best foreign breeds into our own country, while at the 

 same time I urged the possibility of improving the quality of 

 our horses by confining ourselves to the best breeds which we 

 now have among us. A word in defence and explanation may 

 not be inappropriate here. The picture of our so-called native 

 cattle, which I have drawn, is not inaccurate. "Wherever I find 

 a high average of dairy produce per cow, as in Vermont and 



