DIGEST OF STATE KEPORTS. 383 



respects. But usin<:f this aerator in a foul stable, or foul atmosphere,, would be likely 

 to add taint to taint and odor to odor, as it would be au attempt to banish lilthiuess by 

 an additiou of more uastiuess. 



There is one other natural taint of milk to which I will call your attention. It is the 

 milk from sick or unhealthy cows. I do not believe that a sick cow can produce pure 

 or untainted milk. There is abundant evidence, furnished by the medical profession, 

 showing that the milk of sick cows is often taiuted with the disease from which the 

 cow is snffering, to a dangerous and sometimes fatal degree. Hence, selling the milk of 

 a sick cow to customers as food, or delive' ing it at the cheese or butter factory, is, in 

 luy opinion, a crime. It is not safe food for hogs, and should be thrown on the manure 

 or compost heap. 



Ill a discussion which followed the reading of a paper on farming as a 

 profession, by Mr. J. W. Lang, Mr. Isaac T. Hobson made some state- 

 ments in regard to I'armiug in Maine. He said that the yield of corn 

 exceeds the average production per acre of the New England States, and 

 the average value per acre of the six largest corn-produciug States out- 

 side of New England ; that in the yield of wheat Maine exceeds the aver- 

 age yield of the six largest wheat-growing States by more than two 

 bushels per acre, and the average value by more than $14: per acre ; that 

 in potatoes Maine exceeds the average yield and value uot only of New 

 England, but of the six largest potato-growing States outside of New 

 England; that in the matter of hay Maine takes high rank, and in oats 

 it exceeds the value per acre of the six largest oat-producing States out- 

 side of New England. 



In some notes on Maine cattle, it is stated that as early as 1791 cattle 

 were imported from England by the farmers of this State, and as late as 

 1836 Maine farmers sent breeding-animals of thoroughbred stock to 

 Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and even as far west as Ohio. It 

 was one of the earliest sections of the country to attempt au improve- 

 ment of its breeds of cattle by the introduction of thoroughbred ani- 

 mals from other countries. 



The semi-annual meeting of the board was held in October, at Orono, 

 the seat of the State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. 

 The first day was spent at the State college in attending the various 

 recitations and in examining the departments, outbuildings, implements, 

 stock, and farm-work. The opening address was by President Z. A. 

 Gilbert, and the address of welcome by Mr. Charles Bufium, of Orono. 

 Mr. Samuel Wassou read a paper on the importance and profits of cattle 

 breeding and rearing. Believing the only true system of farming to be 

 that which consumes the crops on the farm, he regards the following 

 propositions as incontrovertible : 



First. Cattle afford the most direct, the cheapest, and, as at present advised, the 

 only agency to stay sterility of the soil and keep it productive. 



Second. A combination of causes has given the pre-eminence to cows, uot because 

 their droppings are of superior value, for that of cows in milk is inferior iu quality, 

 but because they can be made to pay a larger dividend for their keeping than any other 

 kind of stock, and the labor which their keeping induces is more remunerative than 

 that of auy other branch of cattle-husbandry. 



Third. They excel aa machines or instruments of transformation. Not that a cow 

 per se is gifted to excel in the process of transformation, but that the product which she 

 turns out is at less cost and of superior value. A large portion of farmers are too far 

 from market to transport bulky and weighty products, like hay and hoed crops, and 

 hence the value of cattle to reduce the bulk, and of cows to increase the value of the 

 concentrated product, that there be no loss of value to the article in bulk and compen- 

 eation for the transformation ; in other words, that the value of the milk, cheese, or 

 butter shall equal the value of the hay, together with the cost and labor of dairying. 

 There is another phase of the case which strikes deep-rooted in this matter. In a soil 

 like that of Maine, which must be fed to keep it fruitful, it is soil-murder iu the hrst 

 degree to market raw material, working as sure and certain ruin as it would to cart off 

 the enriched surface soil and dump it into the ocean ; but by converting it into some 



