104 State Boakd of Agriculture, &c. 



consideration tliat addresses itself to his desire for a reason- 

 able income from his farm and stock, to liis commendable 

 pride in success, and to his self respect, to make utility the 

 paramount object, and to disregard every temptation, how- 

 ever flattering, to make fashionable crosses which do not 

 stand the test of cold matter-of-fact utility. 



The office of all domestic animals, except such as are 

 devoted partly or wholly to labor, is to convert the forage 

 and crops of tlie farm into a more concentrated form of 

 merchandise, at the same time that the fertility of the farm 

 is sustained, and its productiveness increased, l)y the eco- 

 nomical guarding and application of the residuum to the 

 soil, in the form of barn yard manure. The digestive appa- 

 ratus of the animal, together with the arterial system, by 

 which the nutriment in the food is made to nourish the tis- 

 sues of the b ody, all kept in life and motion ])y that most 

 mysterious essence, nervous force, constitute the machinery 

 by which this conversion is performed. The degree of suc- 

 cess whicli shall attend the operations of the farmer ; the 

 protit or loss which he may compute at the end of each 

 year ; the means which he shall enjoy for giving to himself 

 and his family those comforts and relinemeuts afforded by 

 our advanced civilization ; the power to give to the wife who 

 labors by his side, and who often bears more than her share 

 of the burden of life, some relief from the exliausting, never 

 ending round of cares of the kitchen, tlie dairy, the nursery 

 and the basket of patches ; the wherewith to educate his 

 children so that th ey may play well their part in life ; and 

 to so live himself, and so train t/iem that they will not 

 detest their father's calling, and fly from the farm at the 



