FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 107 



Let us so respect tlie gifts of our bountiful Benefactor as not to divert them 

 from their appointed use and benefit, but so improve them that our homes may- 

 be filled with good influences; that their society, their conversation, their 

 amusements, their ornaments and books maybe refined and pure; and all 

 ■whose lives are associated with tliem, like living links, will connect them with 

 the distant future, and tlirough them as through electric wires fastened to 

 their hearts, and these homes the living battery, they may send their influence, 

 like a living stream, far into the future, and nations feel that in them is their 

 safety and prosperity. 



Mr. F. A. Gulley, foreman of the Horticultural Department of tlie Agricul- 

 tural College, gave a lecture on "Economy in Farm Management.'' (See 

 lectures given at more than one Institute.) 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Mrs. Van De Grift read a short paper on general housekeeping, giving her 

 method of canning fruit, of performing several other household duties with a 

 view to economizing time. She recommended to housekeepers generally a close 

 observation of the methods of others as one of the best ways to enable us to 

 improve our own. 



D. W. Palmer, Esq., read the following paper on 



"the best breeds of cattle fok our climate." 



The writer not long since found his name in a newspaper as selected to write 

 an essay on this subject, — and all this honor and responsibility without his 

 knowledge or consent. Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? It sometimes 

 happens that the essayist has an ax to grind. When we talk of the best breeds 

 then it becomes simply a question of dollars and cents. Then that kiyid of 

 cattle which will return to the owner the greatest profit at the least exjjense is 

 the best. Farmers and dairymen raise cattle for beef, for milk, butter and 

 cheese, and for work. Beef \& the final destiny of all cattle. Milk is an indis- 

 pensable article in every household, and butter and cheese are also largely con- 

 sumed in the farmer's family and are largely an article of commerce. Oxen, 

 when used for a farm team, are doubtless the most economical motive power 

 a farmer can have. When the horse has become old he is of little or no value. 

 Not so the aged ox, who, after having been a good servant to his owner during 

 many years, is prepared for the shambles and brings his master a good price. 

 I love to look at the sprightly Devon ox. His bright red color, his soft, silky 

 hair, his long, sliui, erect, curved horns, clean, agile limbs, bright, sparkling 

 eyes, his sprightly movements, and his prompt obedience to the plow boy, 

 gains the attachment of his driver. 



Memory looks back over the long years when the writer was a barefooted 

 boy, holding a wooden plow by one handle and following a pair of Devon oxen 

 (before Jethro Wood patented a cast-iron plow.) Perliaps this is a digression, 

 as 1 did not intend to write an eulogy on Devon cattle, as that will not grind 

 an ax for any one here. Devon cows were passably good for milk and butter, 

 but too small to be profitable for beef. They would thrive on short keep 

 where other and larger cattle would scarcely obtain a living. 



The Hereford cattle are very uniform in color and appearance, and the cows 



