steers are taken to the eastern markets, but a majority of them go to New Orleans. Cost of transportation to the southern market by the river, $10.

Statement of DANIEL FULTON, of Bowdoinham, Lincoln county, Maine.

We have but few full-bloods of any improved breed of cattle; but we have a mixture of the Durham, Hereford, and Devonshire breeds with our common stock. The average cost of raising a bullock, three years old, is about $20; the present price is about $25 each. We find the improved breeds best for labor and beef, but the common kinds best for milk. Average price of a cow in the fall, $18; in the spring, $30. Average amount of butter per cow in a year is 125 pounds.

Statement of SAMUEL JOHNSON, of Jackson, Waldo county, Maine.

The raising of neat cattle pays no better than that of horses. Steers, in their third or fourth years, may be made to earn something by labor; otherwise they would not pay the cost of raising. The average price of a yoke of oxen, four years old, is about $80. I prefer a cross of the Hereford and Durham.

Statement of GEORGE W. DRISKO, of Jonesborough, Washington county, Maine.

A cross of the Durham or short-horn breed on our common cattle is considered the best for labor, being tough, strong, and a general favorite with lumbermen. It is difficult to tell which breed is best for milk. I know several who boast of their cows of different breeds; still it is the honest conviction of practical observers that our old breed, in all respects, is not surpassed in the quantity of milk and butter which they afford. I have a cow of this sort from which 150 pounds of butter were made during the last seven months, besides furnishing milk for all necessary use for a family of three persons, and with only common pasture feed.

Statement of DAVID BRUMBAUGH, of Marsh Run Mill, Washington county, Maryland.

Cattle can be raised with profit in this county, owing to the advanced price within the last few years. Formerly, the farmers depended upon the western cattle for their supply, but now they are turning their attention to raising for themselves. The cost of raising a steer three years old is about $15, which is worth $25.

Statement of WILLIAM BACON, of Richmond, Berkshire county, Massa

chusetts.

As to the breeds of cattle most valuable in this section, we have many animals among our common stock that would be an honor to the herds of England, though the number of such are becoming more rare

every year by crossing with foreign breeds. For all points we consider the Devon as the animal best adapted for the short pastures of New England. We think so for the following reasons: They attain a fair size, and are perfectly docile; for oxen, they are strong, quick, walking off like horses; are hardy, easily kept, and readily take on flesh. It is a rare thing to see a Devonshire ox or cow low in flesh in a pasture where sheep would live. The cows may not be so great milkers as the short-horns, but their milk is decidedly richer. There is also always a market for animals of this breed at fair remunerative prices.

The Ayrshires have been introduced to some extent, and certainly possess qualities that should commend them to the notice of northern herdsmen, who have short summers and long winters. The cows are good for milk, but their quality as oxen or for beef is to us unknown.

Statement of SIMON T. ASHETON and ELIJAH MYRICK, Trustees of the United Society of Shakers, at Harvard, Worcester county, Massachusetts. Our breed of cattle is a cross of the Durham with the best common stock, which we like as well as any full-bloods we have ever seen. They are mixed all the way, from one-fourth to seven-eighths. From one-half to three-fourths we consider a good cross, and will make an excellent stock for beauty of color and form, as well as for milk or flesh. All things considered, we prefer the Durham to any other breed. In general, they are quiet, easy to fatten, large in size, and strong in the yoke, though not so fast, perhaps, on the road as the Devon. They are also docile, tractable, and kind to each other. Of late we have introduced some of the Ayrshire blood into our stock, by which we add to the large quantity of the milk of the Durham the richer quality of the Ayrshire.

Statement of C. F. MALLORY, of Romeo, Macomb county, Michigan.

The short-horned or Durham breed takes the lead with us, though some prefer the Devons for work on account of their color. Crosses between the Durhams and our common stock make the best milkers.

Statement of WILLIAM S. MAYNARD, of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, Michigan.

Durham cattle, with us, are the best for fattening, and perhaps for work; and the Devons, or a cross of them or the short-horns with our common stock, make the best milkers.

The cost of making butter is 10 cents a pound, which is worth from 12 to 20 cents per pound. Cheese costs 5 cents, and is worth from 7 to 10 cents per pound. Beef has been shipped to New York this season to good advantage. It is worth here $4 a hundred, paying a profit of 25 per cent.

Statement of J. D. YERKES, of Northville, Wayne county, Michigan. The raising of neat cattle here is profitable when the requisite facilities for keeping them exist on the farm. It should be well supplied with water and good natural grass land, in order to make it a moneymaking business. Our common cattle, crossed with the Durhams and Devons, produce the kinds mostly kept here. For dairy purposes, some of our common cows are about equal to any inproved stock in this country, and I believe that by a careful and judicious course of breeding from such specimens of our common varieties, a class of cattle might be obtained which, for good milking qualities, would stand unrivalled. For working oxen, a cross of the Durhams and our common cows is preferred. They are of large size, and well adapted to heavy work. They possess mild and peaceable tempers, and when unfit for the yoke are easily converted into beef.

Statement of THOMAS W. SAMPSON, of Ashland Farm, Rocheport, Boone county, Missouri.

The California trade has produced quite a revolution in the cattle trade in Missouri. They have advanced at least 200 per cent. in price, and decreased in numbers in about the same proportion. The consequence is, that the rearing of cattle is about the most profitable business our farmers can enter into. Of the common stock of the county, calves are worth at present from $5 to $8; yearlings, from $10 to $12; twoyear-olds, from $15 to $18; three-year-olds, from $20 to $25; and four-year-olds, from $30 to $45 each.

Cattle are generally grazed on blue grass pasture through the spring and summer months, by such farmers as have it in sufficient quantities; others drive to the prairies in April, and have them herded on the prairie grass until about the middle or last of October. The prairie grass is very fine, and fattens equal to blue grass. The cost of herding is about 50 cents per head. Cattle are usually wintered on what we call" stock fodder," which is the corn cut up whilst it is yet green, and shocked up sixteen hills square, or two hundred and sixty-five hills of corn, and on an average about six hundred and forty stalks of fodder to the hill. The corn is shucked and the husks left on the fodder stalk. One shock a day will keep about eight head of young cattle through the winter, and is worth on an average about eight cents a shock. Counting from the first of November to the first of April, one hundred and fifty days, we have a cost of $1 50 a head for the first year, 50 cents a head for herding in summer, and 20 cents a head for incidental expenses-salt, driving out, &c. We have a cost of $2 20 for the first year; $2 50 for the second year; and $3 for the last or third year.

Our stock of cattle has been very much improved within a few years past, by the introduction of pure-blooded short-horns from England, New York, Ohio, and Kentucky; much the largest number of which have been brought from the latter State. The cattle all over the county are getting more or less mixed, and sell proportionally higher in accordance with the amount of Durham blood. We have some very fine

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imported Durham bulls; no other improved breeds of cattle have been introduced in this section. Milch cows of the common stock and onefourth Durhams are worth from $20 to $40, while those that are from one-half to three-fourths blooded are from $40 to $100. Full-blooded Durhams are worth from $100 to $500, according to quality, size, and appearance, pedigree, &c. I am breeding my cows, about twenty in number, this season, to three different bulls, all pure-blooded Durhams brought out from Kentucky.

Statement of JAMES L. MINOR, of Jefferson City, Cole county, Missouri.

From my own experience, and from the observations of others, I am led to believe that the blooded stock of cattle is not so good for milk nor for draught steers as the common breed known here as the "Patton stock." The Durhams make the best beef, but their quality as milkers is rarely above mediocrity, while the complaint exists among many of our farmers that the bodies and feet of the steers lack that proportion for the draught that is required to give strength, durability, and capacity for extraordinary fatigue. The effect of a cross between this and the common stock is generally to improve the size of the latter, while it diminishes the milking qualities of the cross and the efficiency of the

steers.

The raising of beef cattle has become an object of greatly increased gain within the last few years. Missouri being an eminently pastoral region, has capacity for raising immense herds; and though, until lately, the production of cattle was an object of very little importance to our farmers, on account of the low prices of their kind of stock, yet now a great, and, it is believed, permanent stimulus has been applied to this branch of husbandry by the markets of California on the one side, and the Atlantic States on the other, to which large numbers of our native cattle are driven annually after being wintered in Ohio and Indiana. In former years I have known cows sold as low as $5; now, it must be a very indifferent milker, and a very small animal, that will not sell for $25. This increase of price has caused more attention to be paid to the raising of beef cattle than any other kind. The best stocks are being imported yearly into various portions of this State; and in a few years, with our boundless prairies, and a fertile soil that bears luxuriantly the most succulent grasses, Missouri bids fair to stand among the first in the cultivation of this product of husbandry.

The cost of raising horned cattle is about $5 a year, and their value at maturity for beef is about 5 cents per pound; ordinary and halfblood cows vary in price from $20 to $50; steers are worth from $50 to $100 per yoke.

Statement of D. C. GARTH, of Huntsville, Randolph county, Missouri.

Cattle raising here is found to be very profitable. The cost of rearing a bullock until three years old will not exceed $5, and his value at that age is from $20 to $25. The price of a cow and calf ranges from $20 to $30.

Statement of ARMSTRONG O'HARA, of Saint François county, Missouri.

Cattle here are generally of the common breed, and can be raised at a cost of $9 at three years old. They sell at from $15 to $20 a head.

Statement of LEVI BARTLETT, of Warner, Merrimack county, New Hampshire.

Cattle and sheep are raised more largely here than other kinds of domestic animals. The great majority of the cattle is what is usually termed "native stock," comprising a great variety as to form, color, size, and difference in cash value at a given age. As an illustration of this, one farmer will sell a pair of two-year-old steers for $35, while, perhaps, upon the next farm, a yoke of the same age will readily sell for $60. These differences often arise from our hap-hazard manner of breeding and lack of care in rearing and feeding from the birth of the calf until it arrives at maturity.

At our State and county fairs, there are always to be seen numerous yokes of oxen, of the "native breed," that will compare favorably with any of the imported kinds. So with many of our best milch cows; but as they have no fixed blood in their veins, their progeny cannot be depended upon in sustaining the good qualities of the mother. Hence it is a standing proverb, "that a good cow may bring a bad calf." A very few Durhams are to be found among us, the general belief being that they would require too high feeding to be profitably raised by the farmers in this northern clime. The North Devons find more favor. They are of medium size, well proportioned, and their beautiful deep-red color is a sure passport to the favor of most farmers. How they may prove here as milkers has not yet been ascertained, as it is but four years since the first Devon bull, from the herd of Mr. Hurlbert, of Connecticut, was introduced here. There are now numerous half-blood Devons among our farmers, of one, two, and three years of age, and so far they are highly prized.

The Ayrshires have been somewhat disseminated through this county. But they have, from some cause or other, failed to sustain their foreign reputation as good milkers; as they also have in Massachusetts, where some of the most choice bloods were imported a few years since by the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture. The progeny of these were given in pairs to the county societies, but they failed to give satisfaction to the farmers of the old "Bay State." Reasoning from analogy, we should infer, from the similarity of the Scottish soil and climate to our own, that the change would not materially affect them. But from the disappointment experienced here in regard to their milking qualities, "it would seem that American air cannot compensate them for the Ayr they have left."

Our beef-cattle and sheep are conveyed to Brighton market (80 miles) by railroad-oxen at about $1 per head, when a full car load is forwarded; dressed hogs, butter, cheese, and other farm products, at 25 cents for 100 pounds. In transporting live cattle and sheep from this to Brighton market per railroad, there is a great saving in shrinkage over the old method of "footing" it, and consequently a saving to