32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



have been produced at a profit. If we take only a superficial ob- 

 servation, all our staple products can be produced at a handsome 

 profit; the impression prevails among farmers all about, that, if 

 they could carr}' on this system of cropping indefinitely, larming 

 would be remarkabh' remunerative. If, I sa^-, this S3'stem of crop- 

 ping and selling ofl[ the raw products, at the value which they bear 

 3-ear after year on the market, could be carried on indefinitely, 

 without regard to anything further, then there would come from it 

 a handsome profit, and the wealth of the farming communit}' would 

 be built up easiU' and rapidly. 



But there follows this fact ; these crops cannot be sold off from 

 the farm without reducing its fertility. This system of cropping 

 and of selling those raw products in the market at their cash market 

 value cannot be carried on indefinitely. The time comes, and very 

 soon we are admonished that it is at hand, when those crops no 

 longer respond to the effort we have been making ; we find there is 

 a question of fertility and infertility there which demands attention, 

 which sooner or later must be attended to, if these crops are to 

 be produced in any paying quantities. We very soon arrive at that 

 condition where we must take into consideration this second question, 

 of fertilit}'. 



We want to lay down the proposition to start with this morning, 

 that the most successful course in marketing the crops of the farm 

 is to do it through the introduction of stock husbandry, — feeding 

 these farm products to the stock, and realizing the income from the 

 sale of the products resulting from the keeping of this stock, — meat, 

 wool, butter, cheese, etc. I say we lay down the proposition this 

 morning, that the more successful course for a farming communit}', 

 the better course, instead of selling the raw products on the market 

 and realizing the moncMon them, is to introduce stock husbaiuh' and 

 feed off these crops, and realize the mone^* returns from the stock 

 in such form us one may choose to select. 



Having laid this foundation principle down we propose to go to 

 work and show this afternoon that feeding these farm products to 

 animals can be carried on at a profit, from a money point of view. 

 The discussion will bear upon the vital question, how to feed these 

 products at a profit. We shall produce testimony that it is done in 

 the hands of active farmers, and can be done in the hands of every 

 farmer who introduces intelligent management in the handling of the 

 stock and of the products all through. In the evening we propose 

 to discuss the methods b}' which these results can be most economi- 



