190 BOARD OF AGRICDLTUKE. 



duction of mutton and butter, and mutton and butter of the highest 

 grades. Our onl}- chance in New England of successfulh' com- 

 peting with the broad, fertile fields of the West, is in making a 

 specialty of a few things of the highest quality. With sweet and 

 well-watered pastures, and invigorating air during the summer, 

 and a stead}', dry, V)racing air through the winter, Maine is well 

 situated to compete favorably with the world in the production of 

 the highest grades of mutton and lamb and butter. 



The life of the Maine farmer who raises lambs, for the early spring 



markets, and who makes butter eveiy month of the year, and more 



in the winter than in the summer — the life of this farmer and his 



family is free from many of the hardships which assail the western 



raiser of corn and wheat. The New England flock master and 



butter maker has his labor very nearly distributed throughout the 



3'ear, and he is far less exposed to extremes of heat and cold and 



storms than is his western brother. The eastern farmer's profit 



ma}' be somewhat less, but his ncome is more stead}' and more 



•certain and, to my wa^' of thinking, the New England farmer has 



• always within reach many of those advantages, social and intel- 



:iectual, which after all, are what go toward making life worth living. 



Nor is it an expensive change in farm operations which I am 

 ^recommending. As good Jersey butter bulls for grading native 

 cows as there are in the world, are now within reach of every farmer 

 in Maine at from $25 upward, and the cost of a valuable butter bull 

 may be reduced to a song b}' a dozen farmers joining forces, and 

 purses, and buying and owning the bull in common. A bull will 

 be the better, and his calves better, for his becoming the sire of at 

 least fifty and from that up to a hundred calves a year ; and the 

 bull and his get, would be better if he were worked every day ; it is 

 a pity to throw away all of this muscular power, and moreover 

 make it dangerous to the community, as we do by keeping strong 

 bulls stalled the year round. There are to-da}', at least half a 

 dozen fine herds of cows within two miles of our farm which in 

 their butter product are as good as pure Jerse3's, and these herds 

 have all grown in less than ten jears from crossing the native cows 

 of which they were foimerly composed with registered Jeisey bulls 

 Now these grade Jerseys do not produce as large veal calves, nor 

 will the cows themselves fat as profitably, ])ut I doubt whether their 

 owners regret these facts very much when they are getting §75 and 

 $100 each for their cows which, if native, would bring $40 to $60 ; 



