184 STOCK IMPORTED BY 



drove. This accidental cow is exhibited at the Cattle Show ; 

 well authenticated proofs of her great yield of milk or butter 

 are produced ; the owner takes the highest prize, and puts the 

 money into his pocket ; the calf is sold to the butcher ; and the 

 cow the next year is put into the beef barrel. And this has 

 been the beginning and the end of most of the native cows to 

 which the highest prizes have been awarded. The writer knows 

 not a single instance where the offspring of any one of these 

 high premium native cows has inherited the valuable proper- 

 ties of the dam in a sufficient degree to induce the owner to 

 raise it, with the exception, perhaps, of the famous Groton cow, 

 whose descendants, in the hands of Col. Jaques, might have 

 added greatly to the value of our dairy stock, had the Colonel 

 possessed the means of carrying out his plans ; and, in this in- 

 stance, the valuable properties of the dam were transmitted to 

 the progeny solely by the means of crossing with the pure breed 

 of a foreign stock. The cautious farmer will not run the risk, 

 nor incur the expense, of raising a calf from stock, of the origin 

 of which, and of the blood of the various breeds that runs in the 

 veins of his favorite cow, he knows nothing. Acting from a 

 belief in the truth of the old adage, which has been taught him 

 from his youth upward, that " a good cow may have a bad 

 calf," he can have no assurance that the descendant of his na- 

 tive cow will not take its character from, and inherit the infe- 

 rior properties of, some near or more remote ancestor. He had 

 rather take his chance in the next drove that comes along; know- 

 ing that he shall at least avoid the expense and trouble of rearing 

 a calf upon whose good properties he can make no certain cal- 

 culation. Now it will hardly be pretended that the offering and 

 awarding of premiums for this description of cows, has, or ever 

 will have, the effect to improve the dairy stock of the country. 



The writer would by no means detract from the value of 

 these accidentally good cows, the natives of the country. There 

 are, no doubt, to be found among the farmers of Massachusetts, 

 many cows of native origin, possessing as valuable properties 

 for all purposes, except for breeding, as any that can be import- 

 ed from abroad. And they are not without their value as breed- 

 ers, where they and their descendants may be crossed with the 



