350 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and bones for combs, knife-handles, ivory-black and manure, 

 and the best flesh, the most substantial of all our dishes." 



Your committee do not desire to have fat cattle excluded 

 from our exhibitions or premiums : they only desire greater 

 attention should be paid to, and a greater interest manifested 

 in, town teams or working oxen. 



Henry W. Clapp, Chairman. 



FAT CATTLE. 



HAMPDEN. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The committee are unwilling to permit the opportunity to 

 pass without calling the attention of the farmer to the impor- 

 tant subject suggested by an inspection of these animals. 

 Hampden County has for years furnished her full proportion 

 of first-class cattle for the New England markets ; but this can 

 be done in future only by selecting the purest stock from which 

 to rear our supply. The question, therefore, as to what breeds 

 are most valuable for this purpose, is one of vital importance, 

 and should enlist the most careful investigation ; so that every 

 farming man or boy who undertakes to rear a yoke of oxen 

 will be thus enabled to make a judicious selection from those 

 steers whose well-proportioned and perfect forms will best in- 

 sure a compensating return for the labor and expense bestowed 

 upon them. It must be admitted by every intelligent and prac- 

 tical observer that any requisite or given quantity of hay or 

 meal fed to cattle of this description will produce a much 

 greater percentage of profit than when fed to small, ill-shaped, 

 and disproportioncd stock, which, like the lean kine in Pha- 

 raoh's dream, will consume years of plenty, and be, after all, of 

 little value. The selection of the best stock for maintaining an 

 improved supply that will be equal to the demands of our day 

 is therefore an indispensable condition of success. 



Cyrus Frink, Chairman. 



