376 BOARD .OF AGRICULTURE. 



practiced in the right direction. They have placed their depend- 

 ence on poor bulls for the production of the cattle which we were 

 to use for butter and cheese. Dr. Ezekiel Holmes once imported 

 into Maine the well-known_ thoroughbred Durham bull "Young 

 Denton," and charged $2.00 for service, The surrounding farmers 

 ridiculed the idea of paying two dollars for a calf. They would 

 rather drive a cow three or four miles to an inferior bull, merely to 

 save a dollar or so. Who can wonder at the deterioration of our 

 cattle under such treatment ? Different breeds must be used for 

 different parts of Maine, and each dairyman should use his judg- 

 ment in selecting bulls. In dairying, one first-class cow is worth 

 three middling ones, kept in the way they are generally kept. 

 Let us estimate the profit of a cow that gives sixteen quarts of 

 milk for several weeks in the winter. 



Sixteen quarts, at 4| cents, 72 cents. 



Hay at $30 a ton, 25 lbs 38 cents. 72 



For meal and shorts 12 " 50 



50 " 22 cts. clear gain. 



The question naturally arises, how are we to obtain such cows ? 

 Buy a thoroughbred bull bred for dairying. A good, strong ox, 

 cannot be raised from a dairy cow that is milked up to the time at 

 which she drops her calf. 



Stock raising can be made to pay in some parts of Maine, where 

 good grazing and grass lands can be obtained cheap. If there is 

 any money to be made in stock raising, it is by judicious manage- 

 ment in selecting cows from the best breeds and by feeding them 

 to maturity in the most improved way. If cattle are fed so as 

 not to gain a little each day, you are carrying on a losing business. 



Fruit-culture can be made an important branch of farming in 

 Maine, but it needs patient, persistent and unwearied labor. No 

 labor can have a better reward, than that which we devote to the 

 culture of fruit, if we can only perfect ourselves in the art. In 

 other words, it is converting/the dust of the earth and the moisture 

 of the air into the most delicious food for man. Fruit growing 

 here is in its infancy. We are behind the times in this. We can 

 make Maine as good a fruit State as almost any, if we will but 

 work. Do not go into fruit growing all at once, unless you have 

 money and labor at command. For instance set out one hundred 

 apple trees a year for five years, and you will then have all you 

 can attend to, and also a good profit. We have spent a long time 



