58 • BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



would of course depend on the distance travelled — to be ten 

 dollars, and the cost of transporting a load of potatoes would be, 

 discarding small fractions, 42 per cent, of their value ; of oats 20 

 per cent. ; of cheese 2 J per cent ; of butter 1| per cent. If the 

 expense of the team was only five dollars, then the figures would 

 stand .21, .10, .01^, .00|. These are figures which the farmers of 

 large sections of the State, favored with the richest pasturage with- 

 in its borders, will do well to carefully consider. Of the comparative 

 income from the forage grown on our farms, when fed to the dairy 

 cow, or fed to other kinds of stock, I can speak from my oWn 

 experience, and from the experience of others with whom I am 

 conversant ; and do not hesitate to say that it will be largely 

 in favor of the dair3^ This branch of farming, conducted with 

 reference to the production of butter and cheese, has received 

 more attention probably in the county which I represent, and in a 

 small section of an adjoining county, than in any other section 

 of similar extent in the State. From accurate accounts kept by 

 mj^self, and from figures in my possession kept by others, the 

 income from a cow may be put down in round numbers to be from 

 fifty to eighty dollars per annum, according to the season and the 

 market. These figures will be reached where the cows have been 

 kept in the manner that cows are usually kept by the common 

 farmer. Individual instances might be cited of course, where the 

 income far exceeded this, but these are the average figures of an 

 ordinary herd. Though they are much smaller than the amount 

 usually realized by the dairyman of New York, and in western 

 part of Massachusetts, still they are a larger amount than would 

 ordinarily be realized from the feed, if consumed by other kinds of 

 farm stock. It is the invariable testimony of those who are 

 engaged in it, that it is the most profitable branch of stock hus- 

 bandry pursued in the State, ivhen (he cash receipts alone are taken 

 into consideration. Then if in addition to this, we couple the fact 

 that we are returning to the soil the elements of fertility which 

 have been drawn from it in growing the crops fed out, instead of 

 sending them away in the form of oats, hay, and potatoes, we 

 shall make it duubly sure that the premises assumed are correct. 

 In Herkimer and Orange counties. New York, where dairy farming 

 receives so much attention, land is much more valuable than here ; 

 and shall we sa}^ that they can manufacture cheese and transport 

 it to the State of Maine, here to sell it for a less price than we can 

 afford to make it for ourselves ? Mr. Goodale says in his Report 



