FEED OF DAIRY COWS. 113 



the dahy, might do if they could be fined down a little. The 

 breeders probably think they are perfect now. The Jerseys 

 would give good satisfaction, could they be increased in size, 

 and yield a little plumper carcass for the butcher. Good 

 feeding would have a tendency in that direction. 



Our Ayrshire friends may claim that they already have just 

 the breed that would fill the requirements ; but behind them 

 all, I think the farmers have a breed of animals encumbered by 

 no printed pedigrees, requiring no extravagant outlay of 

 money-, and from whose offspring there would be no tempta- 

 tion to save inferior calves because of their aristocratic origin 

 or connections, but a breed to which a rigid system of choos- 

 ing the best and weeding out the inferior could be applied 

 without causing feelings of sacrifice, as though costly blood 

 were being wasted ; for it is a lamentable fact that the inferior 

 calves from our fancy breeds are too often allowed to grow 

 up and bring reproach upon their kind, simply because the 

 owners cannot withstand the temptation to let some one who 

 is too ignorant to choose, pay an extra price above their real 

 worth because of their pedigrees. 



I fear I am taking more than my proportion of the time in 

 this discussion, but I should leave the subject unfinished, did 

 I neglect to speak of two other needs of the dairy farmer of 

 Massachusetts. 



And first, of feed. 



Had the train which brought some of us to Worcester been 

 delayed at a way-station for an* hour or two, while the firemen 

 went to the woods for a supply of fuel with which to get up 

 steam to finish the journey, we should all have realized that 

 the time spent there was a dead loss, and should have felt that 

 we were seriously injured, especially if we found that the 

 managers of the road had employed men devoid of the judg- 

 ment needed for securing the necessary stock of fuel before 

 starting. 



Now, if we start at the beginning of the year with a cow 

 or a herd of cows without providing for a sure and constant 

 supply of food for the whole time we intend to keep them, we 

 are in just the condition of a loaded train unprovided with 

 fuel. Yet, what proportion of the cows in the State are fully 

 fed all the year round ? 



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