54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



nearer to our ideal of such a cow than in any other one 

 breed. It is folly for us to compare the Holstein cow with 

 the Jersey cow in her butter-producing qualities, or with the 

 Short-horn or Devon in her beef qualities. Those, gentle- 

 men, are specialties of each of those breeds. But what the 

 Holstein breeders claim, — and I believe, from my limited ex- 

 perience, that they claim it with justice and truth, — is that 

 the Holstein cow combines the excellencies of those several 

 breeds more fully than any other one breed. And, further, 

 my observation and experience have proved to me that a 

 Holstein cow will stand more abuse in her treatment than a 

 cow of any other breed. You may say that that is not a 

 redeeming quality, but those farmers before me who are 

 obliged — and we all are who keep large dairies — to trust 

 our animals to the care of inexperienced and careless men 

 will appreciate its value. Is there a man here who has ever 

 owned a herd of twenty cows of the Jersey or Ayrshire 

 breed who has not had one or more of those animals 

 rendered entirely worthless by ill-treatment? Now, a Hol- 

 stein cow is remarkably patient. They are the best-disposi- 

 tioned breed of animals that I have ever handled. They are 

 quiet in the stable and in the pasture, and combine all the 

 good qualities of all the breeds that I have ever had any ex- 

 perience with in a remarkable degree, and I have yet to be 

 convinced that it takes more provender to produce a pound 

 of butter or a quart of milk from a Holstein than from a 

 cow of any other breed . 



Mr. Ware of Marblehead. The question that has been 

 broached is a very important one, and one that seems to be 

 a mystery to all who have been in the habit of feeding beef 

 or dairy cattle. That an animal so large as a Holstein cow 

 will not consume substantially more food than a Jersey or 

 Ayrshire cow, which is so much smaller, is surprising. Yet 

 that is the testimony of the gentleman who has just taken his 

 seat, and it is the testimony of a great may feeders and 

 breeders of Holsteins with whom I have talked. At a meet- 

 ing which was held a few weeks ago in Boston on the dairy 

 question, Mr. Houghton of New Hampshire was present to 

 advocate the breeding of Holstein cattle. He made a similar 

 statement, and I asked him if he could account in any way 



