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in most cases essentially the same. And yet there was a wide 

 difference in the quality of the different samples — a difference 

 which could not be accounted for by any difference in the 

 methods of making. We suppose the highest excellence in 

 the production of butter requires three things : 1st — cows 

 that give the best quality of milk ; 2d — feed of the best kind ; 

 3d — the best method of making the butter. The first named 

 requisite is no doubt the most essential. We want for butter 

 purposes a good stock of cows, whose chief excellence consists 

 in giving milk rich in butyraceous particles. This is the first 

 step towards improvement, and here arises a practical difficul- 

 ty. How shall we get such a stock ? If we could have cows 

 which would average as good as the best we now have, either 

 for the production of milk or butter, the dairy would be the 

 most profitable branch of farming. Is this result attainable ? 

 If so, how ? We believe it is, but not by going to Brighton, 

 or the country, and buying the cheapest looking animal to be 

 seen ; neither is it generally a profitable operation to pay extra 

 prices, because cows are highly recommended. Most farmers 

 do not sell their best cows until they grow old, or something 

 befalls them to impair their usefulness. No doubt the best 

 cow is the cheapest, even if a high price is paid, but the diffi- 

 culty is to be reasonably certain that the cow is as good as the 

 price. We believe the best way and the only way in which 

 we can make any real improvement in our stock, is to raise it 

 ourselves. It is true, that many of our Essex County farmers 

 think that stock-raising does not pay. Undoubtedly it does 

 not pay to raise inferior, or even average stock here, and sell 

 it as soon as it arrives at maturity. But experience and ob- 

 servation both, convince the writer, that it pays to raise good 

 cows. By putting our best cows to a bull from good butter 

 or milk stock, and raising the heifers, we shall be pretty cer- 

 tain to get a better stock than we can readily buy, and by a 

 systematic and judicious management, vastly improve the qual- 

 ity of our cows. If it is said that cattle can be raised some- 

 where else cheaper than here, we admit it. But the cattle are 



