306 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



show, offered to the committee an informal and imperfect ac- 

 count of his dairy of six, cows the past season ; but as he had 

 not given seasonable notice of his intention to become a com- 

 petitor in conformity with the requirement, he had been ex- 

 cluded by a special vote of the trustees. The committee, how- 

 ever, that no injustice might be done to his merits, took the 

 pains to examine his statement, and regretted to find that, had 

 his claims been received in time, he had not entitled himself to 

 be regarded as a competitor. Indeed, it was manifestly ap- 

 parent, from the statement itself, that his attention had been 

 directed to the proposals of the County Society for " milch 

 cows." He gave the product of butter for ten days only in 

 June, and ten days in September, together with a quantity of 

 skim-milk cheese made and sold during the season. There 

 was no such account furnished, according to the rule, as would 

 enable the committee of judges to decide satisfactorily, not 

 only upon the relative claims of the competitors for the premi- 

 ums, but upon the management, and absolute product in weight, 

 and the profits of each dairy ; nor did he furnish any informa- 

 tion of value for communication to others. The limitation of 

 the time of notice was therefore of no prejudice to his chance 

 of success as a competitor, having brought himself within none 

 of the requirements or conditions for obtaining a premium. 



There being no competitor for the third premium, the com- 

 mittee make no recommendation for its bestowment. 



The committee are fully and gratefully sensible to the obli- 

 gations of the agricultural community for that beneficent and 

 enlightened liberality which prompted the trustees of the State 

 Society to make this attempt to improve the dairy husbandry 

 of Massachusetts. However less multiplied or satisfactory 

 have been the experiments than might have been anticipated 

 from the munificence of the proffered inducements, yet it is 

 hoped that such as have been made the subject of this report 

 will not be without their advantages. They assuredly cannot 

 fail to convey to the mind of the practical farmer lessons of in- 

 struction in the care and attention to dairies, and great encour- 

 agement to this branch of rural economy in its productiveness. 

 Especially, in the present universal demand for good butter and 

 cheese, and the high prices which they command, for family use, 



