SECRETARY'S REPORT. • 15 



If an animal be bought for breeding purposes, a full and com- 

 plete pedigree is as essential as a warranty of soundness, and 

 should be no more neglected. 



Mr. Perley presented the following paper on 

 Winter Care of Stock. 



The leading object of this paper is to call the attention of farmers 

 to and demonstrate the necessity of more abundant food and better 

 care of their herds and flocks. 



If a store animal receives food barely sufficient to maintain its 

 weight, without gain or loss, it is manifest that the owner is losing 

 daily just the worth of the food consumed and the labor of tending, 

 deducting the value of its excrements. If the same animal dimin- 

 ishes in weight, the loss is the full sum of the worth of food con- 

 sumed, the labor of tending and the pounds of diminution at its 

 current value in the market, minus the value of its excrements. 

 To make an actual profit the animal must increase in weight so 

 that the pounds of gain, together with the excrements, shall be 

 worth more than enough, at current values, to pay for all the food 

 and the labor of tending ; and the surplus so obtained is the actual 

 profit. With milch cows„working horses and oxen, and breeding 

 sheep, the case is different ; they may yield their owner a profit in 

 other ways, as in milk, labor or wool ; but with all growing stock 

 the facts are as above stated. The profit on the milch cow is the 

 surplus value of her dairy products, increased by the value of her 

 excrement, over and above the value of her food, and the labor of 

 tending and manufacturing the milk into butter or cheese. The 

 profit of the full grown ox or horse is the surplus value of his labor 

 and excrements over and above the value of his food and labor of 

 tending. And the profit of the sheep is the surplus value of its 

 wool, excrements and lambs raised, over and above the worth of 

 food and labor of tending. 



Now if the above positions are correct, the farmer who allows 

 his young stock to remain stationary at any season of the year, to 

 "just hold their own," as he terms it, is actually losing the full 

 value of the food consumed and the labor of tending, less the value 

 of the manure. The milch cow which barely pays the expense of 

 keeping and care, is a " dead head," yielding no profit. So of the 

 ox, the horse or sheep. To make stock keeping in any of its de- 

 partments profitable, each animal must return an income over and 



