38 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



size and lliiift, deserve more consideration than they liave yet 

 received. ]t seems to me that for all our various localities they 

 possess a degree of applicability, which might be very valuable 

 to us. Short-horns must be fed from the start. Herefords 

 can be kept low until two years old and then fattened. Per- 

 haps I might say that Short-horns are better adapted to the 

 mild climate and rich pastures of our middle States, and Ilere- 

 fords and Dcvons to more northern latitudes, where early 

 growth is often unavoidably checked. 



But as I have stated, observation and statistics show that 

 the dairy is one of the most important objects of the cattle 

 breeder, and that it is to the dairy that we are to look for 

 our largest profits. In this class of animals, the Jerseys 

 have become too well known in Massachusetts to need much 

 comment. They were described by Parkinson, a distinguished 

 Englisli writer on cattle, in 1810, under the name of Alderney, 

 as follows : — 



" They seem to be a very tender species. Their color is 

 mostly yellow, with white or mottled faces, and white inter- 

 spersed on various parts ; they liave short, crumpled horns ; 

 their size is small, and they are of as bad a form as can possi- 

 bly be described ; the neck is very thin and hollow ; the shoul- 

 der stands up, and is the highest part ; hollow and narrow 

 behind the shoulders ; the chine is nearly without flesh ; the 

 bucks are narrow, and sharp at the ends ; the rump is short ; 

 the tliighs are thin ; the bones are small ; and they arc narrow 

 and light in the brisket; the milk is said to be rich, which it 

 ought, as they give but a small quantity, according to the food 

 tlicy consume." 



This description will apply to many of the Jersey cows of 

 the present day — although the form of some families of them 

 seems to have been much improved within the last few years. 

 They are now in many respects, when well selected, striking 

 looking animals, and make a beautiful living ornament to parks 

 and meadows. They are almost strictly gentlemen's cows, 

 having obtained a high reputation for butter making, and 

 being great consumers of food. Few imported animals present 

 such remarkable differences — many of them bearing a close 

 analogy to the description given by Parkinson, and others 



