STOCK AND SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 151 



I was told this morning that there are one thousand bushels 

 in your grist mill to be ground, because the water is low ; 

 and further, that some parties have to bring their wheat and 

 corn, etc., fifty or sixty miles to mill. Don't you think it 

 would be a waste of time to ^make such a journey with an ox 

 team? Probably the cow is the best and most useful animal 

 on a farm, but the offices w^hich a horse can practically per- 

 form should not be overlooked. It is a part of the machinery 

 of the farm, in fact, as much as a mowing machine and the 

 rake, and other apparatus that is used in the cultivation of 

 the soil, and I cannot see why the horse is not as useful as 

 other animals used on the farm. I do not believe in fast 

 horses ; I think, as Brother Burleigh has said, it has proved a 

 bad business for the State to raise so many fast horses. . But 

 I must defend the horse and say I believe in the proper 

 animal in the proper place, and I hope the ftirmers will decide 

 for their own interest. 



' Mr. Floyd. The Jersey has been hit pretty hardly by 

 my friend from Piscataquis. He says they are not hardy 

 animals. I wish to correct the gentleman and the people of 

 Aroostook county in that respect. Many years ago I had 

 the honor to live in the town with Dr. Holmes, who has done 

 more for agriculture than any other man in Maine. I believe 

 he was the first man who introduced the Jersey blood into the 

 State of Maine. Mr. Henshaw of Boston sent him down two 

 females and a male. I met him on the street a short time 

 after he got them and he invited me down to see his new 

 stock. He took them out, and they went down to the stream 

 to drink, and it was a cold day and they came back shivering 

 with the cold. He said Henshaw said they were tough and 

 hardy. He did not spend his time in fixing up his stable. 

 Dr. Holmes was never too careful of his stock. Well, the 

 people did not seem to think much of them, but they began 

 to increase on his hands. Nobody bought them. Did not 

 think them good for anything until they saw they would live 

 on the Doctor's hands, and then people came to the conclu- 



