MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY. 5 



eye will detect a greater or less infiision of the pure blood of 

 some recent, or mdre remotely, imported race of foreign breeds in 

 almost every animal that is met, and this, in many cases, where 

 the source of this infusion was never known, or had been for- 

 gotten by the owner. It is a well settled principle in breeding, 

 that the purity of blood in a long and well established race of 

 animals, will prevail in transmitting their peculiar qualities to 

 the progeny over that which is less pure, and of more recent 

 and unsettled character. This is strikingly verified in the re- 

 semblance to the sire of the calves of our native cows, when 

 bred to a foreign bull, of pure and long established blood. Im- 

 pressed with a belief in this principle, the trustees determined 

 to import no animal of ^ignoble blood,'' but such only as could 

 be traced through a long line of ancestry of the purest and most 

 approved breeds. 



"The gentleman, sent out to make the selection, was well 

 skilled in the science of breeding stock, and well acquainted 

 with the merits of the various breeds of cattle in England and 

 Scotland. Many of the animals imported had been favorably 

 noticed by the bestowment of premiums awarded them by the 

 best judges of stock in the country from which they came, and 

 a well authenticated pedigree, heretofore published,* particu- 

 larly of the bulls, proves them to be of the best and purest blood 

 of the respective races to which they belong. 



" There was one other consideration that operated upon the 

 minds of the trustees, in making the importation of stock. It 

 was found that the occasional importation of a single bull was 

 inadequate to the task of bringing about the desired improve- 

 ment. The animal was placed, for a limited time, in one section 

 of the country, and then removed to another. The owners of 

 the descendants of the first cross, in consequence of the re- 

 moval, were deprived of the opportunity of following up the 

 improvement, and by breeding out they soon lost the benefit of 

 the first cross. The farmer, having no cows of the pure blood, 

 whereby the race could be preserved, was drawn to the neces- 

 sity of resorting to his native bull, and thus by breeding out, in 



* See Abstract from the Returns of Agricultural Societies, for 1S45, page 190. 



