36 



lowest terms, — and the multiplying of exceedingly vulgar 

 fractions of beasts, — or finding the equation between the 

 minimum of attention and the maximum of emaciation 1 

 Is there none of this stock usurping the place, and consum- 

 ing the fodder, which of right belong to cattle, that should be 

 here in Dedham taking premiums, — stock that has been 

 badly selected, badly crossed, badly reared, — incarnated or 

 rather inskeletoned libels on the whole law of reproduc- 

 tion'? 



On the other hand, have you all discovered the real phil- 

 osophy and economy there is in feeding your cattle on 

 pine boards ? in other words, discovered that if you put 

 them into a warm stable, instead of letting them shiver on 

 the north side of it, all the drizzly and frosty weather of 

 winter, you thereby provide fuel for their vital sustenance 

 which the furnace in their lungs would otherwise have to 

 borrow from their stomachs, to keep up the temperature, at 

 the cost of a fifth more in quantity of meal or hay? Have 

 you acted on the false presumption that young cattle will 

 eat up the third-rate stuff, like stalks and straw, with a better 

 appetite, if they are not allowed anything else, — whereas 

 the truth of their dietetics is, that they will swallow this 

 inferior food far more easily at noon, if you lubricate 

 their throats with a little more epicurean catering for 

 breakfast ? 



Are there no dilapidated buildings, filthy front yards, 

 staggering fences, broken tools scattered over haymows 

 and cornbins and woodpiles, instead of hanging cleansed 

 and polished in a tool-room, — all vile witnesses how it is 

 forgotten that prosperity never takes the arm of a sloven"? 



Now these neglects seem to show that, over and above the 

 attainments of a few scholarly persons, or rather between 

 their science and the practical work of the multitude, 

 there is needed a connecting link, — something to kindle 

 in Messrs. Smith, Jones and Brown, out on the lots, an 



