16 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



have it so, for an assurance that it is so. It is a fact often con- 

 firmed, that cows for which extravagant prices have been paid, 

 sadly depreciate in the hands of the purchasers. From sixteen 

 quarts of milk a day, they dwindle to eight, merely by chang- 

 ing owners. Such things have happened in high places, where 

 the agriculture of Massachusetts expects, and has a right to ex- 

 pect, better things. The owners of most of the three-minute 

 horses have so much fondness for them, that they never put 

 them to that speed ; so, cows that give twenty quarts of milk a 

 day are often heard of, but seldom seen. 



Among cattle, there are these four general divisions — short 

 horns, long horns, middle horns, and hornless. Each of these 

 classes has its peculiar merits and its friends. So prejudiced, 

 indeed, are many of the friends of one, that they can see noth- 

 ing worthy of regard in any of the rest. 



In New England, cattle have been divided into two classes — 

 native and imported. Between these, the farmer has to choose. 

 I speak of the general farmer, and not of the milkman, who 

 selects his cows with regard to quantity only, careless of the 

 quality of their milk. Of the imported breeds, those recom- 

 mended for their qualities are the improved short horns and the 

 Ayrshires. The former we have long had among us ; the latter 

 are but little known in the county. Which is to be preferred ? 

 " Cut your coat according to your cloth," is a very trite maxim, 

 but it has, of late, grown somewhat out of fashion. In many 

 parts of the county, the pastures, in summer, are short and 

 greatly overstocked. For winter-feeding, we have an excess of 

 mean hay, and everywhere and always a rugged climate. The 

 prudent farmer, looking to profit rather than fancy or experi- 

 ment, will undoubtedly be partial to cows rather than breeds. 

 He will prefer a good cow, without a pedigree, to a poor cow 

 with the whole herd-book to back her ; and I think he will 

 adopt this general rule, that small cows are more profitable than 

 large ones, and for these reasons : — 



A small cow requires less food to supply the natural waste of 

 the body than a large one. The small Canada cow, for instance, 

 will pick up a subsistence from pastures on which some of the 

 larger breeds would starve. Young and growing cattle will not 



