NEAT STOCK. 365 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Heifers. — When we consider the number of animals raised, 

 and the amount of capital invested in this enterprise, that, in 

 1850, according to the census report, there were 18,000,000 

 head of neat cattle alone in the United States, and in Massachu- 

 setts 259,994, and in our own county of Hampden 21,755, 

 valued at 1794,359 — an average of 836.51 per head — when we 

 consider their utility in supplying us with not a few of the 

 necessaries and luxuries of life, we may have a better idea of 

 the importance of bestowing great care and attention in selecting 

 and rearing the best animals. 



The object of having good stock should be two-fold with every 

 farmer : First, it conduces to increase the contents of his pock- 

 et, which, at the present age, is no trifling consideration, it 

 being the paramount one with not a few individuals ; and sec- 

 ondly, it forms a source of rational enjoyment by no means to 

 be lost sight of, in affording an opportunity to exercise that 

 finer taste for beautiful objects, which every one should be happy 

 to cultivate. And certainly no one has a better opportunity of 

 so doing, than the farmer. The poet Virgil, who was a farmer 

 of no mean attainments, narrates to us of two shepherd swains, 

 who, in olden time, contended with their rustic pipes. A heifer 

 was the prize of melody and song, possessed of the beauty of a 

 fawn and gentleness of a dove. The order of exercises is at 

 present reversed, and instead of rustic swains contending with 

 songs for a heifer as the prize, they present their heifers with 

 expectations of a prize, which sometimes proves valueless as a 

 song. The historian of the United States declares that no occu- 

 pation is nearer heaven than agriculture. It certainly, then, 

 behooves our brethren to conduct themselves with the greatest 

 propriety and decorum, and it is the opinion of your humble 

 committee, that one of the best modes of exercising the finer 

 feelings of humanity and cultivating a kind and generous spirit, 

 is rearing calves. Commend vis to a man who has a pride in 

 his herd, who uses good judgment in its selection, and bestows 

 care in providing for their peculiar wants, thus showing that he 

 appreciates the blessing of having them to use, not to abuse, — 

 and be assured that such an one will be found possessed of those 



