Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-02-28
aQmtester 4allp Spp.
CAsSIUs M. CLAY ON sTOCK-BREEDING


he had come here as a progressive farmer to
lend his aid and influence to a movement
winch he deemed Of great Importance and the
necessity for which he had for wears anDre
ciated We hear it said on every hand. and
especially by politicians, that farming is a re-
spectacle business; but he thought that no
amount Of honeyed phrases or plausible talk
would make any calling respectable. If far
mers would be really respected, they must re-
fine themselves, and not wait for it to be done
by others. They must carry their capital into
the country and judiciously use it in advanc
ing their farm practice. Taste should be Gull
uvated; and rural architecture, landscape gar
denlng, and other things which render a cOun.
try attractive, should especially be tostered.
10 further this great object this convention
had been called, thanks to the sagacity and
enterprise of Prof. Porter; and although it
would have been perhaps more convenient to
Is!e4, Mr.. Clay, if it had held its session in
Kentucky, yet it being in Connecticut he was
willing to come hither; for what tended to
promote the advancement of New England
farming was as dear to his heart as if it were
especially pointed at Kentucky interests. It
is the sheerest madness for farmers O drain
their farms and invest their funds in stocks
and bonds, for the application Of capital to
farm Improvement would give as large COM
paratlve profits as it would in any other bust
ness The introduction of better classes of
farm stock, Mr.. Allen had told us, would add
from ~ to 10 millions of dollars annually to
our wealth. If we took this sum for a few
years and applied it to farm Improvement.
what magnificent results would be attained
Through the interior of Kentucky the farmers
were so sensible of the profit derivabe from
improved stock, that they would no longer
purchase common scrubs at any price, nor
even give them standing room on their farms
For they had found. and Others would find
that to purchase them at any price was in the
long run poor economy.
He would not attempt to describe all the
mutifarious breeds of the civilized world. but
would conine his remarks to the five leading
British breeds-the Attorney or Jersey, the
Ayrshire, the Devon, the Hereford, and the
Short horn. In size and weight the Alderney
is the smallest. 1t is supposed to have come
from Normandy, but has been improved in the
Channel Islands, and is greatly improved to
what it formerly was. 1t is a picturesque
looking animal in appearance, rather than
strictly beautiful one. Those which he had
seen were mostly ewe-necked, sway backed,
high in the withers, full bellied, and gaunt
But he understood that by careful breeding
there had been many individuals of the breed
made up to symmetry quite creditable The
Alderney, he conceded, gives the richest of
all milks, but little in quantity Taken to the
country 1t was an active animal, capable of
getting living on scanty pastures. 1t will
thrive in some degree almost anywhere with
us, but undoubtedly does best in districts
which are the same isothermally as its native
land.
The Devons are supposed to be brought to
England with the Cells, and are, perhaps,
rightly regarded as the oldest breed Of the
British Isles. They are a degree larger than
the Alderney, are heavy in the head, do not
carry out the rump well, but are a very good
animal withal. They give rather more milk
than the Attorney, and of almost as rich
quality. They are not very heavy in the
briskel, and being narrow between the Shout
ders, are enabled to move briskly, and are
thus adapted to working under the yoke al
though rather light for heavy draft, and hence
they have been improved by cross of the
shorthorn. The long-horns have been tried
in Kentucky, but abandoned, for they did not
prove either famous mixers or feeders The
Devon is two small for Kentucky, and for
other districts like it, where their is abundance
OF rich, heavy pasturage. They do not aim
at getting single famous mixers in his State,
for they keep many animals and little milk
from several is fully adequate to their purpose.
The Hereford he does not deem an original
breed, for they were formerly of dun and
dark color, and are now white faced and
throated; a popularity which he thought
owing to a cross with the Gamorgans. Their
greatest inferiority was that thew were miser.
able mixers very bad fault, Tor there are
doubtless a thousand persons who wish
milking animal to one who wants TO make
beef The Hereford as comnared with tbe
Short-horn. is coarser in the shoulder and
thicker i'll the hide, beside wanting that gene
raj symmetry which characterizes their GREAT
rivals. A good handling quality of hide is
highly priced by the butcher. for a mellow.
spongy skin indicates good quality of beef
and that well "marbled y In This imnortant
feature he had tound tbe Hereford deficient
He was aware flat This breed ;s n ta voritn With
butchers. but tbought If greatlv due n the fact
that it laws on its ft in matches in the inside If
the carcass. and thus goes in the "fifth omar.
ter" as the butchers perouisite.
The Short-horn he deems an original and not.
as popularity supposed, created breed. They
differ very much, it is true, in color, but these
variations are well defined, and evermore re-
peated. He had never seen real short horn
without some patch of white on it. The phi
siognomy of the race is the same as in olden
times fact which he thought demonstrated
in their resemblance at this day to the outline
Of an old Yorkshire COW sculptured centuries
ago upon a marble slab in an old church at
Durham. The short-horn has not only periec-
ton oftorm, but size, tattening properties, and
milking qualities as well. In England, Scot
land and this country, any dairy which is IA
nous will generally be composed of short
horns, either thoroughbred or grades. We may
breed out the milking quality, but we may on
the other hand develope it to great extentb by
careful breeding from milking families He
mas had an animal give 81 quarts of milk daily,
hnd he believed the breed will make more but
IN and cheese than any other. In early ma
Sstty they are unrivaed. AT two years old
fhav h1V We hpnn sent from X pntuakU tn Now