FACTS FOR FARMERS. 



CHAPTER I. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



SECTION. I-INTRODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK. 



HE very foundation of all farm improvement is the 



domestic animals which consume the coarse products 



f^ ■) of the farm, such as are not fit for human food, or 



"^ grown in greater abundance than is needed for 



^ that purpose, which, being so fed, are converted 



into milk, butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, wool, 



leather, and the many otlier valuable animal products. 



But above all are animals valuable to the farmer, because 



they convert the coarse products of the farm into manure, 



without which the owner can not produce food for his own 



sustenance. 



Viewing, then, as I do, successful farming as based upon 

 stock, it seems to me very fitting that I should make the 

 treatise of it the leading chapter of the volume. And as swine are more 

 universally kept by all classes of Americans, and the flesh more universally 

 used every week in the year, it will be very proper to make this branch 

 of farm-stock the leading suljjcct. 



I am not going to give learned dissertations upon stock-breeding, nor, in 

 fact, long essays upon this or any other sulijcct, but such little fugitive facts 

 as come to hand, in short paragrajihs, consecutively numbered for reference, 

 with black-letter titles to each subject, to attract attention, and so arranged 

 tliat facts may be gathered at a glance, and valuable information obtained 

 during leisure moments which might otherwise be lost. 



^lany of the statements given are not oidy for the pui-pose of giving 

 interesting information — such, for instance, as the weights of the largest 

 animals ever slaughtorcd — but as an incentive to others to try to ]iroduce 

 the like. It is not to be expected that a man who never saw a bullock of 

 over 12 cwt. should attempt to make one of 36 cwt. ; nor will he bo likely 

 to make the attempt before he learns the important fact, that the particular 

 breed which ho has kept all his life never attain tliat weight. 



It is for the purpose of inciting improvement that I give some statistics 



