192 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



are a considerable number of grade Devons — perhaps some 

 full-blood. Edmund Hobart, of Amherst, has a Short-horn 

 hull, and Horace Henderson, a Jersey, and several grade 

 heifers of his own raising, and thinks highly of them. 



The writer commenced the foundation of an Ayrshire herd 

 six years ago, by importing some heifers from Scotland, and 

 from selections in the country, and has twenty head of Thorough- 

 breds and grades. 



How is it that breeders in England and Scotland have 

 brought their herds to such perfection, except as above indi- 

 cated, and that only by long practice, careful observation and 

 experience. The North Devon, which has been bred for 

 centuries, is sure of producing its like ; so the Hereford and 

 Durhams or Short-horns, though not bred so long, have 

 assumed a fixed type and character, and each has adapted itself 

 to its locality. They breed for beef, for work, for the dairy, 

 and to some extent for all purposes united. 



In order to the highest success, we should have a definite 

 aim. Let the young man, in stocking his farm, begin, if it is 

 all he is able to do, with the best native cows he can select, and 

 with a Thoroughbred bull of the breed he may think best 

 adapted to his farm, and the object he has in view — beef, milk, 

 butter or cheese, and continue to use none but well-bred bulls, 

 and he cannot fail to find his account in it ; he will for outstrip 

 his neighbor who pursues the old beaten path, he will get up a 

 better herd for his own farm, and find a market for all his 

 surplus animals, at remunerating prices. 



I do not propose to speak at length of the ditTerent breeds ; 

 each of them has its advocates. Short-horns, it is generally 

 admitted, mature earlier, and attain to a larger size than any 

 other breed, and, consequently, are well adapted for beef; but 

 in rare cases do they excel for work or milk in proportion to 

 their size ; a cross is better for either. The Herefords are rare 

 in this vicinity, even if any are found of pure blood ; they are 

 comely, thrifty, good workers, good for beef, but indifferent 

 milkers. Nothing can exceed the beauty of form and color of 

 the North Devon — they are sprightly, and hardy for work, good 

 beef animals, and by some it is claimed that they are good dairy 

 stock. There is a great dififerencc in families of them in this 

 respect, owing, no doubt, to a long course of breeding for this 



