278 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



different breeds of cattle. While on the one hand we would 

 guard against neglecting our native cows, and lavishing our 

 care upon an imported breed, which in the end may prove far 

 inferior, yet we would deprecate the confident spirit which 

 some manifest in saying that our native cows cannot be beaten ; 

 for this spirit, if indulged, would put a check upon the improve- 

 ment of our milch cows. Let those who are disposed, import 

 and rear their favorite breeds, and give the result of their 

 experiments to the public; and if they should fail to meet 

 the importer's expectation, the individual loss would, in some 

 measure, be a public gain. 



From whence shall the farmers of Essex County obtain their 

 cows, is a question that is becoming every year a more impor- 

 tant and difficult one to settle. In former years we have been 

 able to buy two-year-old heifers, from the droves from Maine, 

 New Hampshire, and Vermont, cheaper than we could raise 

 them ; but the comparative value between veal calves and 

 two-year-old heifers has altered much since railroads have 

 come into use. A few years since we could buy the best of 

 heifers from the droves in autumn for about twice the price of 

 a good veal calf in the spring. Then it was better for us to 

 buy heifers than to raise them ; but now we find but few good 

 heifers in the droves. Either they are not sent here, or the 

 high price of beef has caused the butchers to get the best of 

 them; so that all we get are those whose hides are so close to 

 their ribs that the butchers dare not attempt to separate them. 

 If this state of things continues, we shall be obliged to some 

 extent to raise stock in this county. 



It may be well for us to consider the merits of the different 

 breeds of cattle, and see if any can be found better adapted 

 to our wants than those commonly called " native cows." Al- 

 though there are many individuals among them of superior 

 milking qualities, yet where is there a flock of native cows 

 from which we could raise their calves with any degree of cer- 

 tainty that their offspring will possess the milking properties 

 of the parents ? From the imported stock which has been 

 long and thoroughly bred we may raise stock with some such 

 certainty. It may be asked, What have the Jersey cows to 

 recommend them ? There is nothing in their size, form, 



