20 



MILCH COWS A^ID HEIFEES. 



Bewildered by the number and singular excellence of the entries 

 in every class, charged with labors which would have afforded full 

 employment for three committees at least, and having to perform 

 the greater part of their work in a drenching rain, your committee 

 will be agreeably surprised if their decisions are more satisfactory 

 to the competitors than they are to themselves. 



The fact that the regulations of the Society as to statements, 

 were very generally disregarded, also added to our perplexity, and 

 told fatally against those animals which had not either great ap- 

 parent merit or high pubHc record to sustain them. 



To illustrate. The old brindled native, whose own age and that 

 of her youngest offspring are alike unknown to your committee, 

 may, in her sphere, be a more estimable animal than Empress 2nd 

 in her lusty prime, and exhibiting in perfection the double aptitude 

 for beef and mUk for which her family are remarkable ; more es- 

 timable even than Dolly Dutton, a somewhat unusual type of an 

 Ayrshire, but a singularly perfect type of a prime milch cow ; than 

 Petty Pet, whose weird beauty, matchless Kneage and personal ex- 

 cellence have been celebrated through the length and breadth of 

 the land ; or, lastly, than Gem 3d, whose record on poor pasture 

 shows, a daily product of 10^ quarts of milk, yielding 16 per cent, 

 cream ; and whose mother (see Devon Herd Book) is authoritatively 

 stated to have made 2^ pounds of butter a day. This old Brindle 

 may, we say, in her sphere, and according to her advantages, have 

 been a more estimable animal, or to put the matter in a business 

 light, may have been a more profitable machine for converting hay^ 

 grain and roots into currency, than these or any other of the well 

 clad, well bred and well fed dames with whom she has entered to 

 contend. But, if this is so, how are we to know it ? We recall the 

 proverb of the singed cat — we reflect on the folly of judging from 

 appearances — we pause lest we should unwittingly insult a fairy in 

 disguise, or repel an angel unawares — and then, we take old Brin- 



