1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



179 



ble the driver to keep up with them. He knew 

 of only one pair of pure Devons in the State, as 

 those called Devons were mixed more or less with 

 some other breed. In order to know the best 

 breeds, he thought different breeds should be kept 

 on the same farm, and then the opportunity could 

 be had to test the different qualities of each by 

 actual and nice experiment. He said that he had 

 seen a yoke of fine large Durham cattle a few 

 years since at the New Hampshire State fair, and 

 the large price the owner was offered for them 

 ($200) induced him to sell them ; the man regret- 

 ted having sold them afterwards, as he thought 

 he could not do his work so cheaply with others, 

 yet in the spring he yoked a pair of half Devon 

 steers, and he soon found that they did the work 

 with less fatigue than the Durham cattle had done 

 it, and he could keep three of them on the same 

 feed the two he had sold consumed. The speaker 

 said there was no better beef iu our market than 

 the North Devon cattle made, and in the Smith- 

 field market in London this beef brought from 

 half a cent to a cent a pound more than any oth- 

 er, unless it was some kinds of Scotch beef. The 

 iverage quantity of butter from a Native cow was 

 5 lbs. per week, while from a Devon double the 

 quantity could be obtained, so that for beef he 

 jonsidered them the best for size, while for but- 

 ■e-v it remained to be proved whether they would 

 lot give as much or more than any other breed, 

 oer 1000 lbs. weight, and for milk they were very 

 much better than the Durham. He thought a 

 man should, in the first place, consider Avhat he 

 wants to do with his cows, and then select the 

 breed that will produce the most of the article 

 he has the best market for. The Devon breed 

 •were active and remai-kably docile, while Alder- 

 neys were very vicious even M'hen young, and 

 this particularly was the case with bulls, and in 

 the decision of the question this point was im- 

 portant to be taken into consideration. 



Mr. White said that, to show the feeling in re- 

 gard to Devon cattle in his neighborhood, a towns- 

 man of his had 60 head of cattle of that breed, 

 and he did not know a farmer who had mixed 

 with his stock. 



Mr. Peters, of Southboro', said that he had 

 little experience in farming, having only been en- 

 gaged in it about six years. He had come to 

 learn and not to talk, but when he heard gentle- 

 men speak so disparagingly of the Aj'rshire breed, 

 he felt as though he must speak in relation to it. 

 He was aware that each section of the State need- 

 ed a different kind of cattle, each having requi- 

 sites that might be locally needed. When he 

 bought his farm he had on it twenty Native cows, 

 but he found they consumed too much for the re- 

 turn they made, while there was no reliance to be 

 placed on their calves. Four years ago he bought 



four heifers that came from Barre, which were of 

 the Durham breed ; on keeping them awhile, he 

 found one to be an excellent milker, another good, 

 another poor, and the fourth good for nothing. 

 He thought the Ayrshire breed was the best for 

 raising milk for the Boston market, for which 

 purpose he kept his cows, as they were reliable 

 for milking stock. 



He thought the Alderney Avas extremely hardy, 

 a small consumer, and to prove this he had been 

 paying special attention to feeding, and he found 

 that with corn-stalks and straw and a quart of 

 shorts per day, they were kept in good condition. 

 He could keep three Ayrshires on less than he 

 could two Natives, and he thought two Ayrshires 

 would give as much milk as any two Native, he 

 had ever seen. He spoke of a farmer in New York 

 who made a pound of butter from six quarts of 

 milk from an Ayrshire cow, while he could make 

 no more from double the quantity of a Native cow. 

 He had kept Natives and Ayrshires side by side, 

 and his foreman, a New Hampshire man, and pre- 

 judiced against Ayrshire cattle, had said to him, 

 on his inquiring how the Natives looked so poor 

 and the Ayrshires well, that he had fed them 

 alike, but finding the Natives getting poor he had 

 increased their food, but reduced that of the Ayr- 

 shire, thus showing conclusively that they will 

 keep in good condition on much less feed. He 

 spoke of the beef, and said that it was even bet- 

 ter than the Devon, as the fat was marbled 

 through, while the latter was on the outside. He 

 closed by saying that, for raising milk to sell, there 

 was nothing like the Ayrshire breed, while they 

 are the most economical and easiest kept of any 

 creatures we have, and will give the best return 

 for the amount invested. 



Mr. Asa Sheldon, of Wilmington, said that 

 it was over 40 years since he began to keep cattle, 

 and at that time he commenced mixing the breeds. 

 He first mixed a Native with a Durham, the lat- 

 ter being the sire, but he found the heifer was not 

 so good as the mother, and since then he had al- 

 ways been in favor of the Native breed. He 

 thought the Native was a mixture of the Den- 

 mark with the Black Spanish, and this was fully 

 shown in a light brindle color. If he was to mix 

 breeds he would mix native with Ayrshire, as he 

 considered the latter the greatest milkers im- 

 ported ; but if he wanted 50 cows, he would go to 

 the State of Maine and there select them, and he 

 would rather have them than any imported ones. 

 The land he owned was poor, and he used his 

 milk for butter, as he could sell all his skimmed 

 milk and buttermilk advantageously. Five years 

 ago, he had a heifer which made 17 lbs. of butter 

 per week, and last year from 6 days' milk from 

 the same heifer he made 15 lbs., which he sold to 

 a store in Woburn for 30 cents per pound, and 



