138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is the first requisite), and then, whether he Can produce it in his 

 locality. This gentleman has ranked the several herds of cattle 

 as he has gone along. I felt, while he was speaking of the butter 

 qualities of the Shorthorns, that he might find men in Maine, who 

 would take exceptions, from the fact that breeders here have bred 

 for different purposes, made their selections when they started for 

 different objects. They have bred, perhaps, in a different direc- 

 tion from the men in Connecticut, and of course the results would 

 be different. Mr. Gold would not recommend the Shorthorns as 

 butter stock, while the gentleman from New York regarded them 

 in a different light. 



I regard an animal as a machine, possessing certain qualifica- 

 tions. If you want to manufacture cotton goods, you will not 

 attempt to do it from wool ; and you must apply the material 

 which you manufacture to such machinery as will manufacture 

 what you want to produce. If you want milk, you must put food 

 into a machine that will produce milk mainly. If you want to 

 produce beef, put it into a machine that will produce beef mainly. 

 Now, if it is possible to get a machine that will produce a number 

 of articles from the same materials, it may be very desirable to do 

 so. For instance, you want to produce beef, working oxen, and 

 milk ; and a certain proportion of each. Then you want to select 

 a machine that will convert the material with which you furnish it 

 into what you want. The main question is, what breed of cattle 

 will produce just what the farmers of Maine want ? If you want 

 a little of several things, that is one thing; if you want only one 

 product, that is another. 



The exception which some might take would be here: that some 

 animals will live and thrive where others will not succeed. It is 

 a law of nature, that animals require food according to their size, 

 although there are exceptions to this as there are to all general 

 rules. No man supposes that a pasture upon which a nice little 

 Jersey could gather her fill in a few hours, and lie down and be 

 secreting rich milk, would carry a Shorthorn, girthing seven or 

 eight feet. Now, let an animal of any of these larger breeds get 

 food according to its size, and be as happy and contented and lie 

 down as quietly as the Jersey, the question is, whether that large 

 animal will not do as well, thrive as well, and pay the owner as 

 well, or better, for the amount of food consumed, as the smaller 

 animal. 



