STOCK UP A LITTLE HIGHER. 207 



look for our cattle-supply to Texas, to the plains of Colorado, 

 Nevada or somewhere beyond the mountains and beyond the 

 great rivers." I wonder if we thought during the war, when 

 the Rebels held the Mississippi, that we had got to go to 

 Texas and the great plains of the West for our supply of 

 cattle ! I wonder if our soil is so exhausted to-day that we 

 are obliged to draw all our breadstuffs from the West, whether 

 we shall be able to suppoi-t the population we have in our 

 teiTitory ! Is it not best for the farmers of Massachusetts to 

 strive to be a little more independent and produce their own 

 food? Let us compare our condition with that of Holland, 

 Belgium, France and Old England itself. Do you ever hear 

 them talk in France, Belgium or Holland about their popula- 

 tion being so dense that they cannot grow cattle ! Why, they 

 have there ten head of neat stock to their inhabitants where 

 we have one. 



We hear no complaint from Holland that they cannot grow 

 animals, or cannot supply themselves with beef. Belgium 

 and Holland, although their population is much more dense 

 than that of Massachusetts, are able to produce immense herds 

 of cattle and send them to England and everywhere else 

 where there is a cattle-market. Cannot Massachusetts do 

 som'ething of this kind? Are our hills so sterile, is our terri- 

 tory so small in proportion to our population, that we cannot 

 give up any portion of it to the growing of cattle? I tell you 

 I wish to do something to stop this talk which we hear on all 

 sides, "We cannot do this and we cannot do that." I believe 

 in my inmost soul that if we would go to work at the founda- 

 tion of this thing, we could double the stock of Massachusetts 

 and support it on the territory we possess. We could double 

 our cattle-products, and we should be better and richer for it ; 

 and I know that, under certain circumstances that might 

 arise, we shall be a great deal more independent. Let us 

 strive then, using the wit which God has given us, and the 

 intelligence which we are daily acquiring, to increase the 

 number of cattle upon our territory. 



Again : I do not want to be heretical here, but I desire to 

 express a few thoughts in relation to the treatment of our 

 grass-lands. The Board of Agriculture have said, "Never 

 plough the fields that you intend for permanent mowing. 



