282 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and equally so to the health of the cow. Soiling, feeding out 

 grains, &c, can seldom be resorted to with profit when the 

 farmer has at his command sufficient pastures for his cows (o 

 range over and feed at will. It is to the above cause, no 

 doubt, that the liberal premiums offered by the Massachusetts 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture failed to bring out the show 

 of stock that our society confidently hoped to have seen at this 

 exhibition. Let us hope that the effect of these premiums 

 which are to be offered, until they are awarded, will another 

 year be such as to satisfy the expectation of the public, and as 

 to induce the trustees of the Massachusetts Society to repeat 

 them. We may mention in this connection that the same soci- 

 ety has decided to extend premiums of similar amount, to such 

 other county societies throughout the Commonwealth as have 

 not already received them, the next year, and the large sum 

 of twelve hundred dollars is to be competed for under the au- 

 spices of the Worcester Society, at Worcester, by all the coun- 

 ties in 1856. 



There were five dairies of cows offered this year for premi- 

 ums. One of these, Mr. Buckminster's fine herd of Devons, 

 was decidedly admired by every observer, but could not be 

 considered by your committee, because the proprietor failed to 

 make any statement of its history or products as required by 

 the regulations of the society. Four other gentlemen also ex- 

 hibited cows, but as they, with one exception, also failed to 

 comply with the regulations prescribed by the society, the com- 

 mittee could not consider them in reference to premiums, how- 

 ever well they might be thought to merit them. Only one of 

 these dairies produced butter — that of Mr. A. G. Sheldon, of 

 Wilmington. His carefully prepared statement was read with 

 interest and profit; but, in the opinion of the committee, 

 the produce was not sufficiently large to entitle him to a pre- 

 mium. It will be seen that for his butter, which is certified by 

 competent judges to have been of the finest quality, he received 

 only thirty cents per pound, although prepared in the best man- 

 ner, and laboriously stamped. This should not be so. Many 

 consumers in Boston pay from forty to fifty cents a pound, be- 

 sides in some instances paying expenses by express from Phil- 

 adelphia, for butter no better, to say the least, than his. If 



