THE STOCK ON OUR FARMS. 39 



being symmetrical, uniform, compact, graceful, rotund, and as 

 remarkable for the small quantity of milk tliey yield, as for tbe 

 baauty of tlieir persons. There arc, however, exceptions to 

 both tliese rules — and I would instance Flora and Countess, 

 imported by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agricul- 

 ture, and a cow imported by Charles G. Loring, Esq., of 

 Boston, JMass., as a specimen of what a cow should be in shape 

 and capacity. There are few Jerseys like them. 



Jerseys never look well under ordinary circumstances. 

 Tliey require good food, good shelter, a good looking stable, 

 and cleanliness to bring out their attractive appearance. The 

 grades, so far as my observation goes, are very fair milkers, 

 but not very remarkable ; and I doubt if in any form they 

 will ever become favorite animals with our farmers. 



Whoever proposes to purchase the Tliorouglibreds cannot 

 be too careful in his selection — for the difference between the 

 genuine, well-bred and well-shaped Jersey, and the spurious 

 animal which comes from any of the Channel Islands or the 

 north of France, and is driven by dealers through the principal 

 markets of England for sale or barter, is as great as can be 

 conceived between any two animals. 



Tlie dairy-farming, which is especially a part of the business 

 of the farmer, in the eastern States, finds its analogy, not in 

 Yorkshire, nor in the Isle of Jersey, but in that portion of 

 Scotland where the soil and climate are more like our own, 

 and where the development of dairy-stock has received the 

 attention of some of the most intelligent men of the commu- 

 nity. The farmers of Ayrshire and Wigtonshire find in their 

 immediate neighborhood a market for fresh dairy products, 

 and as there is no profit in feeding cattle for beef alone, in that 

 region, they have applied themselves to the work of obtaining 

 the best dairy cow, that can be put together. This is the origin 

 of the breed of cattle called Ayrshire. They are comparatively 

 modern in their introduction into the list of breeds, not having 

 been mentioned at all by Parkinson, fifty years ago ; and being 

 derived, as many assert, from a mixture of Short-horn blood 

 with the native blood of the region. We know herds which 

 have been forty years at least in being brought to their pres- 

 ent condition. 



