MILK FOR THE WAGON. 117 



effort for the improvement of our stock, it is true ; but they 

 should have the effect to control and guide our experiments 

 into practicable channels, and to accept some things as settled. 



I heartily coincide with the general character of the essay, 

 but should take exception to that point made by Mr. Cheever. 



Mr. Cheever. I do not claim that every position I have 

 taken is the best, nor that I have made my own ideas clear. 

 I do not want to be understood that I class the Ayrshire cow 

 as a water cow. The Ayrshire cow, I believe, is the best 

 cow now for the milkman who wants to give his customers 

 good milk. The point I wished most to impress, if I could 

 choose my language correctly, was, that farmers ought to be 

 in better business, and that the market ought to demand that 

 they should be in better business than trying to pick up those 

 cows that give the most milk, without regard to the quality. 

 The point that I wish to make, when I say that one breed of 

 cows is enough for the State, is, that the State is to be a 

 milk-producing State chiefly ; a butter-producing State only 

 to a small extent, and that of a first-class article, for the first- 

 class market ; that some uniform breed of cows should be kept 

 by Massachusetts, as the Island of Jersey has for ages kept a 

 uniform cow suitable to their wants, one that would be suita- 

 ble to our needs as a State ; one that would combine these 

 two points, — milk good and rich enough, the best that can be 

 produced for the use for which it is designed, the milk-wagon, 

 and, at the same time, milk from which butter of the best 

 quality can be made, that can be sold at prices that will pay 

 for making ; made for a class of customers who would not be 

 particular to have the very last globule churned in, if two- 

 thirds of the cream would make the butter better. The Ayr- 

 shire, I believe, will do this. The Jersey, as she is now, 

 hardly. I do not know as the Jersey could be a leading 

 breed for Massachusetts, a milk-producing State, because the 

 cream from Jersey milk rises quickly, and leaves what looks 

 blue. It is claimed by chemists and by cheese-makers that 

 the best cheese can be made from the milk of Jersey cows, 

 but that is not what they are sold for. I do not want to be 

 understood, either, that if I were going to fill my yard to-day, 

 I would prefer to go to what we all call, for the want of a 

 better name, native cows and native males, to build up a dis- 



