16 • • BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



above its cost, else the farmer is simply changing the form of his 

 product without increasing its value. There are some animals, ill 

 bred brutes, which can never be made to yield a profit ; such should 

 be at once laid out for fox-bait, or, better still, incorporated in the 

 compost pile, so that, being dead, they may be turned to some 

 good account, for, while living, they make the farmer poorer every 

 day. There are thousands of others which might, but do not yield 

 a profit, and the fault that they do not, is entirely with their own- 

 ers. A " plentiful lack" of good care and food is the reason. 

 There are comparatively few animals which do actually yield a 

 profit, either in growth, in labor, in dairy products or wool ; and 

 these are always found in the hands of careful, good feeders. But 

 the profitless animals, it is believed, greatly outnumber those yield- 

 ing a profit ; outnumber them to a far greater extent than farmers 

 are generally willing to admit ; and this is the result of short past- 

 ures in summer, cold barns and a scanty supply of good, nutritious 

 food in winter. In a climate like that of Maine, it becomes neces- 

 sary for the herdsman and flockmaster, if they would keep their 

 stock in a continually thriving condition, to provide food, other 

 than pasturage, for more than half the year. From December 1st 

 to April 30th, the animals upon the farm must, ordinarily, receive 

 all their living from the winter's store ; and the necessity is scarce- 

 ly less imperious during November and May. The scanty feed in 

 the pastures in the latter part of summer and early autumn, caused 

 by the drouth usually occurring at that period, renders it highly 

 important that at this season, too, feed of some kind should be 

 supplied, else the stock will come to the barn in ill condition. The 

 farmer who would see his stock continually gaining, or yielding a 

 profit, must be prepared to feed, more or less, two-thirds of the 

 whole year. This may seem a strong statement to some, but let 

 him who doubts it, place his animals upon the scales once in every 

 thirty days for a twelve month, and he will be convinced of its 

 correctness. Farmers who rely upon a guess judgment, ai'c very 

 apt to misjudge the condition of their stock. Only a few days ago, 

 the writer heard an experienced, good farmer, and a good judge, 

 make the statement that his young stock actually gained more 

 during the winter of 1861 and 1862, than during tlie summer fol- 

 lowing, and this without provender of any kind, the hay being of 

 a poor quality, having been cut upon low, wet land. One of two 

 things must be inferred from this statement, viz., that the summer's 



