FAKMEES' INSTITUTES. 337 



worth §50.00, leaving a profit of $29.75. If kept until three years old this ani- 

 mal might be made to -weigh two thousand pounds, which at six cents per pound 

 would be worth 81.20.00, at a cost of 160.75 for feed, leaving a profit of §59.25 

 for feeding the animal three years. Had we fed three calves during that time 

 their sales with interest at ten per cent would have amounted to $165.50, with 

 a cost of only $60.75 for feed, leaving a profit of $104.75 on the three calves, 

 or a difference of $45.00 in favor of the calf sales. Many persons just barely 

 let their animals subsist ; this is about as profitable as trying to fill a shrunken 

 barrel. 



Mr. M. Miles. — In many cases stock feeding does not pay. There are sev- 

 eral reasons for this : 1st, The animals are not full fed. Mastication and the 

 animal functions require a certain amount of food to supply their waste. The 

 more the animal will consume and digest in addition to this the larger the profit 

 will be; 2d, Young feeding pays best. The true method is to select animals 

 that mature early, and eat much and give large returns for the food con- 

 sumed. Here is the great benefit of improved breeds. I believe that stock 

 raising will pay better here than at the west. In stock feeding we must con- 

 sider the value of the manure obtained. 



Mr. A. F. Wood. — The earlier we can get the same price per pound for our 

 cattle the better. Extra cattle always have and always will bring good returns. 

 Beef Avell fed pays best, and the same is true of milch cows. I think the South- 

 downs are the mutton sheep, and the long wools the combined class. The 

 opinion that we cannot raise stock here as profitably as at the west is false. 



Miss Miller of Marengo, Calhoun county, then read the following paper on 



FAEM LIFE. 



Poets in glowing strains have sung, novelists, with all the beautiful and witch- 

 ing imagery of romance, have delighted to portray the beauties and delights of 

 the '^ wood-embowered cot within the vale," until we would fain believe that in 

 one of those rustic habitations we might pass a life-time devoid of care, drink- 

 ing in only the sweets of a happy existence, leaving the bitter for the less favored 

 class of humanity. "The Old Farm House" has been the subject of so many 

 articles in our rural papers, where it has been so vividly described as standing 

 in some quiet, shady spot overgrown with moss and ivy, the tasteful and com- 

 fortable appearance, without only an emblem of the love and contentment 

 within, that I hesitated before venturing to attack the subject from another side, 

 pointing out some of the acknowledged defects in the management of many of 

 our country homes throughout the land. While I endeavor to do this please 

 bear in mind the fact tliat having lived upon a farm since my earliest recollec- 

 tion my sympathies are enlisted in behalf of the farming community, and I 

 shall speak only of those things which I think ought to be improved in their 

 manner of living. As we travel through our country how many farmers' homes 

 we find destitute of any or every thing ornamental, when a very little expense, 

 combined with good taste, would render those homes inviting and even beauti- 

 ful which are now so unattractive and devoid of pleasing mien. Farmers are 

 apt to think that attractive houses and neat surroundings do not belong to their 

 humble lot; that the city resident alone is supposed to possess the time and 

 means to surround himself with such luxuries. This surely is a mistake, and 

 if farmers would only take the matter into consideration a very pleasing effect 

 would soon be the result. It is within the power of farmers and their wives to 

 make farm life and farm homes so inviting that public opinion will change and 



