98 THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



wife taught me a good lesson once (she has taught me a good many). 

 When I was talking with her ahout the family expenses she said: "My 

 dear, you have got a wrong idea of economy." "Have I?" "Yes you 

 have; your idea of economy is to go without, and that is not economy; 

 that is privation; economy consists in spending all you can, but spend 

 wisely." The woman was right, scientifically right, practically right. 

 Too many of us have an idea that if we only refrain from expending 

 anything we will get rich. Now we cannot do it. I told you this 

 morning what my problem was. I hire four men upon my farm, while 

 I know there are plenty of men who would carry on that farm with 

 three, and I know of men who carry on farms of the same size with 

 two men, but these men are in hot water all the while. The farmer is 

 thinking all the time how he can get rid of employing labor; then comes 

 up the question of the management of his cattle — how his cattle are 

 handled, how they are fed. We do not stop to think of these questions. 

 One hundred and sixty pounds of butter the average in Vermont. 

 Now, you have to pay the expense of keeping the cow. Allowing five 

 dollars for pasture, if you please, she has used up the product of 160 

 pounds of butter. In my county the average is 240 pounds of butter, 

 with 242,000 cows. We have had to do a good deal of work to get the 

 farmers to understand the importance of culling out his herd, breed up 

 and cull out, breed up and cull out. We have got men I can show 

 you among our eight hundred patrons, men whose cows are pro- 

 ducing — 19, 20, 25 or 30 cows are producing — 350 pounds as the highest; 

 300 and from that up to 350 pounds of butter, and that has come from 

 breeding up and culling out. I told you this morning about Mr. Gris- 

 wold; he is the closest judge of a sire I ever saw, and that man has 

 culled out until you stand and look at those cows in wonder. Last 

 fall in a little cross country farming district they asked me to come 

 and give them a talk. I said I would if they would give me Mr. Gris- 

 wold's herd to talk from. I said look at that herd; there is an object 

 lesson for you. There is a little farm of fifty acres producing $2,500 of 

 cash revenue. 



I remember very well when in Vermont farmers raised a great deal 

 of young stock — pigs, calves, yearlings and two-year-olds; when the 

 farmers went to work and produced a cow. What are cows worth here 

 as a rule? 



A. Fifty dollars. 



Governor Hoard. — Good cows worth $50. Now then, a good Al 

 two-year-old heifer about to become a mother, what is she worth? 



A. About $35. 



Governor Hoard. — Now just think of raising cows. You find men all 

 over the country who are anxious to raise a steer, and a heifer until 

 she is two years old can be produced with about half the cost that 

 a two-year-old steer can. I remember plenty of men in New York 

 who used to calculate to sell every year from five to ten cows, some 

 two year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds or something. This thing 

 has departed from our midst, but it ought not. and we ought to keep 



