386 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



butter and cheese than usual. In August a short, sharp drought cut off 

 the exuberance of the forage, and a sudden shrinkage was experienced. 

 Many cheese-factories stopped operations the last of August, and nearly 

 all by the middle of September. 



Report for 1875. — This volume is also one of more than average inter- 

 est, although it contains neither so many i:)ages nor so great a variety 

 of papers as that for 1874. The annual meeting was held at Waterville, 

 in connection with the Maine Dairymen's Association, in February, 1875. 

 Z. A. Gilbert was elected president of the board ; J. E. Shaw, treasurer, 

 and Samuel L. Boardman, secretary. Mr. Lyman Lee read the open- 

 ing paper, on raising horses for Maine. It was discussed with consider- 

 able spirif by the farmers present. He took the position that the farm- 

 ers and horse-breeders of the State have generally been producing a 

 class of horses altogether too light for general road purposes. While 

 oxen have been going out of use, and horses have been gradually taking 

 their places, horses of the right kind for farm and heavy road work have 

 not been raised in sufficient numbers to supply the demand. The result 

 has been that the people of the State have been compelled to import 

 them from the West and from the provinces of Canada. He said : 



The fatal fascination of raising fast horses has seized npon too many farmers, and 

 attention t<5 the breeding of this class of horses has driven out all attempts in the 

 direction above indicated. A showy little stallion of eight or nine hundred pounds is 

 too often patronized in the vain hope of securing a speedy colt, when the services of a 

 weU-made-up horse of from eleven to fourteen hundred pounds, which should be secured, 

 are not used. Farmers seek for speed in raising horses, and obtain it only in very rare 

 instances. Now, if these animals chance to become a little lame, or slightly blemished, 

 they are of little or no value, while heavy horses, although they may not be perfect, are 

 still useful and command good prices. The breeding of fast horses should be left to the 

 professional horsemen and trainers, as farmers seldom make it profitable. One trouble 

 must be encountered ht first, and that is, many of our mares are not large enough to 

 breed from. This, however, may in a measure be overcome by selecting the largest and 

 best mares for stock-raising, and even by importation at first, if need be. But in case 

 of the stock-horso from which to breed, there will bo no difficulty, for as soon as the 

 owners and keepers of such horses learn that a large, firm, and compact breed of horses 

 is desired, they Will find it for their interest to patronize the same. Then, again, would 

 it not be better to arouse the ambition of our young men, and some of the older ones 

 too, to raise and keep a team of splendid, sturdy horses for valuable use, instead of en- 

 gaging in raciu;; and pool-selling, with thejr attendant influences, which in fact more 

 or less affect the whole community I Of course no word is to be said against breeding 

 lighter horses for light-carriage use and for driving ; but experience wUl show that 

 there will always be a suflicient supply of stoall hoi'ses. 



In the discussion which followed, the general conclusion reached was 

 that the raising of light, speedy horses should not lead the farmers to 

 lose sight of the importance of other lines of breeding and other 

 branches of farming ; for while there could be no question as to the 

 high value of the road-horses of the State, yet sheep, young cattle, and 

 dairy-stock certainly needed encouragement, and beef-growing, dairy- 

 ing, orcharding, market-gardening, and other important branches of 

 farming, for which certain sections of the State were especially adapted, 

 should not be overlooked. Speed is a valuable quality, but there are 

 other valuable qualities possessed by the hotse which are equally as 

 necessary to develop as that of speed, and it is a question if the best 

 horse is not that one possessing the most comi)lete development of all 

 these qualities, such as would best fit him for all useful and desirable 

 purposes. 



Mr. A. L. Bradbury read a paper giving the results of his experiments 

 as to the value of whey and skimmed milk for feeding to calves and 

 pigs. He stated that some years ago ho took two calves from the cows 

 at two weeks old, and put them on skimmed milk and potatoes, and fed 



