ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 31 



The dairy exhibits in this period were of great import- 

 ance. Francis H. Appleton of Peabody, William A. Rus- 

 sell of Lawrence, and J. D. W. French of North Andover, 

 all gentlemen of wealth who delighted in their farms and 

 choice breeds of cows, began a series of exhibits which 

 were continued for many years. Mr. Appleton brought 

 his choice Ayrshires, Maud, with her record of twenty- 

 two and three quarts a day, and Lassie, whose best yield 

 was a twenty-five pound daily average for two months. 



The famous Holstein herd of Mr. Russell came in 1876 

 and following years. Lady Clifden with a year's record of 

 16,274 lbs., or 21 143-363 lbs. a day; Maid Marion, with 

 an average of 31.38 lbs. for 421 days; and Lady Andover, 

 with 36.11 lbs. average for 273 days. 



Mr. French's North Andover herd of Ayrshires in 1877 

 included Betty Burke, whose average for 308 days was 

 26.42 lbs., and Rosanna, with a record of 33 lbs. a day 

 for 123 days. 



Mr. D. F. Appleton of Ipswich exhibited his fine Cots- 

 wold sheep and his herd of Kerry cows. 



Coincident with these famous records was the introduc- 

 tion of a new food. While visiting in Hungary in 1873 

 Gen. Francis H. Appleton saw a method of curing fodder 

 corn by heaping the stalks in pits and covering them with 

 earth. He was so much impressed with the evident value 

 of this process which was already a well established ad- 

 junct of the best Hungarian farms that he secured from 

 his friend a statement of his method of "Sour Fodder 

 Making," as it was called, which was published in the 

 American Agriculturist in October, 1873. He was not 

 confident of its popular introduction into this country. 

 Remarking upon ensilage, its European name, in 1879, 

 he observed: "I would say that it must be done with 

 much care and expense, as well as on a large scale, to 

 be successful, so that it probably cannot come within 

 reach of the smaller sized farms of New England, unless 

 some one person could prove it to be of true value and 



