AGRICULTURAL APHORISMS. 1209 



well as the feed trough. It is better to combine grass and grain 

 feeding than to separate them. Adding to the grazing season sub- 

 tracts from the cost of flesh. A well or cistern kept closed from 

 impurities is the only safe water supply. Soiling saves land, 

 fences, food, and weeds, and increases valuable products. Grow- 

 ing an animal and fattening it afterwards went out of fashion 

 some time ago. The man who pastured corn-stalks is the long- 

 lost brother of the man who spoiled his knife fashioning a flint, 

 and the strawberry mark is "Penny wise and pound foolish." 

 Every farm animal should be a pet. Castrate the calves when 

 a week old. Muscle, not fat, makes the good breeding animal. 

 Breed from the best. The best animal, valued for its flesh, 

 milk, or wool, is the one that produces most and best from a 

 certain amount of food. The best animal, valued for its labor, 

 is the one with the most bone and muscle rightly placed, and 

 the most spirit and energy rightly controlled. Disease renders 

 unfit the best formed sire. Never deprive breeding animals of 

 moderate exercise. A scrub sire is a bad bargain at any price. 

 Pedigrees are like wine : the older the better. Pedigrees are 

 good evidence, but not proof. The most masculine male is the 

 best sire, and the most feminine female the best nurse and 

 suckler (but not always the best mother). Year after year use 

 the best pure-bred males on the highest grade females. The 

 male determines the externals, the female the internals. Fit- 

 ting for show is too often unfitting for breeding. The steak 

 will not tell you the color of the hair it grew under. 



Endurance, breeding, and size should mark the stallion; 

 soundness, activity, and docility the mare. Good colts are not 

 unprofitable. Colts, like children, should have work and educa- 

 tion while young. Put the barn high and keep it dry. Kind- 

 ness to a mule is not misplaced. A good mule is a treasure ; 

 but a mule soured by abuse is worse than a scolding wife. 

 Good pasture, good cattle. The beef animal should grind its 

 own corn, a hog completing the work. Butter colors should be 

 put in the cow, not in the bowl. Quality determines the profit 

 of butter. Butter-milk is the inveterate foe of the butter. 

 In a dairy the thermometer is as essential as the cow. Cold 



