31 



May, is more than "the body o' me knows." The calves ai*e coarse 

 or rickety, or feeble, or deformed, and even if some of them look 

 plump and fat, their condition is no credit to their dams, whose 

 milking quahties are e^^ddently of the most meagre character. The 

 bull and heifer calves run together till the impropriety of theii- do- 

 ing so is very fuUy proven. A discreet silence is observable as to 

 the character and fate of the earher produce of the cows, but the 

 neighbors say that their first progeny were sii-ed by a scrub bull 

 which shared their pastures. In short, on every side, we may ob- 

 serve mai'ks characteristic alike of the cattle and their owners. Mean 

 shapes, coarse heads, broken noses, harsh wiry hair, hard thick hides, 

 vicious tempers, chronic tendencies to abortion, poor milkers, defec- 

 tive udders, and ignorant and brutal attendants, tell unmistakably 

 of want of judgment, niggardhness, and unprincipled deahng. 



Between the two classes we have described, there are numberless 

 gradations of skill and honesty and their opposites; but we are sat- 

 isfied that the market reporters' stereotyped comment, "the price 

 depends mainly on the fancy of the customer," applies with far more 

 force to the lower than to the higher classes of thorough bred cattle. 

 A gi'owing pile of manuscript warns us that our hobby has car- 

 ried us far beyond the usual hmits of a report. "We cannot however 

 leave this subject without expressing our conviction that the abihty 

 to yield an abundant supply of good milk is a prime requisite in a 

 cow for New England ; that a superior faculty for milk is by no means 

 incompatible with an equal aptitude to lay on flesh when dry; but 

 that the two are often united in animals of healthy constitutions, 

 hearty appetites, and good digestions ; and lastly, that the milking 

 faculty is found in individuals of almost every breed, and by judicious 

 breeding and skillful treatment may be rendered a fixed and re- 

 liable property, without the sacrifice of any of the valuable quahties 

 for which the several breeds are at present esteemed. 



Small space is left for the important consideration of the treat- 

 ment of stock. Fortunately this may be summed up in a few words 

 Good and abundant food, comfortable shelter, proper ventilatiou,^ 

 regularity in milking and feeding, cleanliness, and kindness, these 

 six ; but the greatest of these is kindness. The charity on which 

 Paul insists in his letter to the Corinthians, "for which sarch the 

 Scriptures, and when found make a note of it," is only another name 

 for the kindness we would urge on all in their intercourse Avith do- 

 mestic animals. To attain the highest degree of satisfaction and 

 success in the management of stock, requii'es a careful study of the 



