26 BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



He may have got liis opinion from that old adage, but how- 

 ever he got it, or howevQr tenaciously he hangs to it, he is 

 wrong, gentlemen. No dairyman in Barre, or anywhere else, 

 can afford to have more than one pastvn'e, for one herd of 

 cows, and for these reasons. You change a cow from pasture 

 to pasture, and you make her uneasy, discontented. The 

 first thing she will do will be to range over the field, ascertain 

 its area, and the weak spots in the fence ; how much food she 

 has, and how good it is. That is before she commences to 

 eat. Wh}^, gentlemen, this is as demoralizing to the cow, as 

 free-loveism is to mankintl. (Laughter and applause.) Now 

 you will remember that. The cow ranges over the field 

 looking for feed better than it contains, and more of it, as 

 the other animal ranges over all creation to find its affinity. 

 (Laughter.) Both range over and range back, dissatisfied 

 with their present condition. The one never finds what she 

 looks for, and the other never finds its affinity. Our friend 

 Victoria has found a good place, whether she has found her 

 affinity or not. (Laughter and- applause.) 



Now, gentlemen, there is another reason why you cannot 

 afford to maintain so many pastures. Your fences cost a deal 

 of money, or a deal of stone and labor. While I was on my 

 way up here, I was struck with the smallness of your fields, 

 and I have set you down as one of the most industrious peo- 

 ple I have ever been among. Why, you have got such heaps 

 of stone piled, by which you have divided one field from an- 

 other, that I came to the conclusion that you were either 

 anxious to get your stone out of the way, or else to have small 

 fields, and a good many of them. Gentlemen, sink your stone 

 out of the way, if you cannot do better with them. Bury 

 them out of sight, as we do any other nuisance, and arrange 

 your farms so as to have just two fields, one pasture and one 

 meadow ; and let that meadow embrace the land you cultivate ; 

 let your mowing lands embrace the lands 3^ou cultivate. I 

 will give you credit, certainly, for industrj^, for perseverance. 

 I would trust you to get a living on a bare rock, or a steep 

 mountain side. Why, put a Herkimer-county dairyman upon 

 some of the dairy farms I have passed through, and if he 

 had ambition enough left at the close of the year, he would 

 take Uncle Horace's advice, and "go West." Perhaps this 



