98 



insist that the titmost care and attention should be bestowed on 

 the selection and rearing of all stock. We sometimes hear it said 

 that a hull is a bull, and that any chance offspring is as good for 

 the farmer's stock, as that of the best selected breed, whether of 

 pure or mixed blood. Such a behef, and the practical conclusions 

 drawn from it, must forever prevent the improvement of the dairy, 

 and the comfort and profit of farming. 



Mr. Colman remarks, in his European Agriculture,! that " the 

 South Devons," which he distinguishes by very marked differences 

 from the beautiful " North Devons," " are animals identical with 

 the great mass of cattle to be found in New England." " In re- 

 spect to them, as far as I could learn, no particular pains have 

 been taken to improve their breed, and to see what could be made 

 of them, as in the case of the Short Horns, the Herefords and the 

 North Devons." May not this last remark be made, with equal 

 fitness and force, respecting the mass of the cattle now in New 

 England ? And in the beauty and excellence of the fine North 

 Devons, Durhams, Ayrshires, and Jerseys, exhibited to-day, have 

 we not sufficient encouragement to attempt the improvement of oiir 

 native breeds, in a rational way ? 



Among the several animals on exhibition, we mention a Jersey 

 bull, owned by the Hon. J. Quincy, senior, and to him presented 

 by the late Hon. T. H. Perkins, — to whom the friends of agricul- 

 ture owe many obligations. We take pleasure in commending so 

 good an animal to the notice of the farmers in this County. To 

 Mr. Quincy we return our most grateful acknowledgments for the 

 interest he has manifested in our Society, and for his generous 

 endeavors to advance the cause of agriculture both here and 

 elsewhere. 



Dr. W. T. G. Morton, of West Needham, offered a pm-e blood 

 Devon bull, and one of the finest of his class. This animal had 

 received the highest premium of the Society at a former exhibi- 

 tion, and was, therefore, excluded from competition for a similar 

 premium at the present time. 



N. S. Dexter, Esq., of Dedham, offered a fine native bull ; — 

 Mr. Eliphalet Kingsbury, of Dedham, a bull, three fourths Dur- 

 ham ; — Mr. H. Leeds, of Milton, a bull, half Devon and half Al- 



t Vol. 2, page 316. 



