62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ia the butter product would be proportionately the same, no 

 matter what the breed of the animal might be. 



Mr. Taft. Your cows are largely Jerseys? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. Almost all, now, sir; but I never fed 

 any cotton seed to a thoroughbred. 



The Chairman. I was just going to observe, that if I 

 feed even a quart of shorts or a pound of cotton seed to my 

 Jersey herd, I hear of it immediately from Boston. That 

 is the reason I asked the question. I have heard farmers say 

 that they fed cotton seed to short-horns and it made no dif- 

 ference in the butter. 



Mr. BowDiTCii. Did you ever try feeding it to other 

 cattle before you had your grade Jerseys ? 



The Chairman. No, sir, I never did. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. There comes in the difference, again, in 

 the manipulation and manufacture of your butter. Your 

 experience would not be worth anything unless you had tried 

 it on a herd of grade Ayrshires, or something else. 



Mr. Hadwen of Worcester. The experience of the chair- 

 man, as Avell as the other gentleman, in feeding certain breeds 

 of cattle with certain substances, seems to show that they 

 discover the flavor of the cotton seed more in the product 

 from one breed than another. I think there is no question 

 about the truth of these statements. For instance, you may 

 take Jersey cattle, where the fat is very largely stored on 

 the internal organs, and where the food comes more inti- 

 mately in contact with it, and 3^ou m ill find that the fat is a 

 great absorbent of flavor; w^hile in the short-horn, for in- 

 stance, where the fat mostly lies on the outside, next to the 

 skin, and is not bronght in contact with the food so directly, 

 you do not perceive the flavor of cotton seed, or any sub- 

 stance, as you do in a Jersey. Consequently, I see it often 

 stated by those who have Jersey herds, that they have to be 

 very careful in feeding any substance having a peculiar 

 flavor, to prevent its being imparted to the milk and the 

 butter. We know that the French, when they wish to ex- 

 tract the flavor of flowers, use olive oil as the best absorb- 

 ent. Oils retain the flavor of flowers. I know from my 

 own experience of twenty years or more in feeding Jersey 

 cattle, that, if you expect to get good milk or good butter, 



