SECRETARY'S REPORT. 19 



their stalls during the operation of milking or currying-, will 

 probably cost the owner two-fold more than the labor of the man 

 or boy, thus guilty, can be worth, and such herdsman or boy should 

 be at once reformed or discharged from his place. 



A constant supply of good water, easily accessible, and in a 

 sheltered place for winter's use, is of the utmost importance to the 

 health and consequent profit of farm stock. That from a spring or 

 running brook is best ; but this cannot always be obtained near at 

 hand, and the practice of driving any considerable distance to 

 water is always objectionable, particularly in severe weather. A 

 well or cistern must often serve as a substitute for the running 

 stream- — from these the water should be freshly drawn and always 

 free from offensive taste or smell. Many animals accustomed to 

 pure water, will refuse that which is brackish or impure, until con- 

 siderable suffering from thirst has been endured. This is a source 

 of loss not generally appreciated by stock-owners. 



These and several other points, scarcely less important, might 

 be enlarged upon, but wo will pursue it no further at present. 



Now I hazard the assertion that not one herd in ten,, take the 

 State through — yes, I will say one herd in twenty — but leave the 

 barn on the twentieth of May weighing less than when housed on 

 the twentieth of November, and unless the excrements are reckoned 

 higher than farmers generally value them, and unless the price of 

 stock rules very much higher in spring than in the fall, all these 

 nineteen out of twenty stock-owners have just thrown away their 

 feed and labor, and with more courage than discretion are ready to 

 engage in another hard summer's labor, that they may be able to 

 do the same again. They find themselves in spring with the same 

 number of animals, diminished in quality and gross weight, with a 

 pile of manure, (that is, so much as has not been washed away to 

 the neighboring stream,) in offset for the same animals in better 

 condition the previous fall, and tons of hay or straw and bushels 

 of meal and roots which those animals have consumed. There 

 must be here a large balance upon the wrong side of the ledger, 

 when the profit and loss is recorded. 



Query. Would not the farmers of Maine act more wisely in 

 keeping a less number of animals, feeding them more highly, and 

 bousing them more comfortably, thus securing a constant gain? 



