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size as to be of little value to the butchers, is reared for a 

 stock-getter, for anything will do for a bull. Not many of 

 these animals are exhibited at our shows, for their owners 

 would be ashamed of them — but a very large proportion of 

 the calves dropped in this county, are sired by bulls of this 

 description raised here or driven from the neighboring 

 State of Maine. 



One of the exceptions may be as bad, and it is this. Oc- 

 casionally, a very large bull calf is dropped, and the owner, 

 if he cannot afford to raise him himself, advertises his won- 

 derful merits, and some inexperienced man purchases him, 

 for his size alone, never asking or caring for his ancestry ; 

 but his extraordinary size which may be his worst defect, is 

 regarded as sufficient to overcome any and all defects. Such 

 animals are generally pampered, crowded and kept with a 

 particular eye to the cattle show. The neighbors far and 

 near are called in to visit him, and an animal well fed, in 

 high condition, with a sleek coat, is always an object of at- 

 traction — for as has been well said by an Enghshman of 

 good sense, " fat will cover faults. " 



These last find their way surely to the shows, and friends 

 and neighbors of the owners are all there, prejudiced in their 

 favor and proclaiming their comparative merits. Now there 

 are few men in our county, (and I say it with all defer- 

 ence) who are judges of cattle in the highest sense of the 

 word, who are able to discern merit or the promise of it un- 

 der a rough skin an unpampered condition, or who have 

 strength of mind sufficient to reject a defective form, which 

 from its sleek covering and high condition allures the com- 

 mon and unpracticed eye. The calves got by such bulls 

 would probably be large, but so coarse in bone and in general 

 characteristics as to be comparatively useless. 



This society regarding the importance of the bull, have 



always offered liberal premiums for the best animals of this 



class, upon condition that they be kept for use within the 



county for a certain length of time. Why this condition? 



9 



