224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



heavy English sheep need luxuriant pastures, in which but little 

 exercise is required in tlie pursuit of food. Climbing high hills, 

 and cropping short grasses, cannot conduce to large and rapid 

 accumulations of fat, or to heavy growth. Wherever, therefore, 

 we would feed mutton-sheep, we must be sure that we have an 

 abundance of food so easy of access as not to interfere with 

 that sluggishness and ease which they require for their full 

 development. 



On the other hand, if our pastures are hilly, rough, and 

 clothed witji somewhat scanty herbage, we must select those 

 animals whose size and habits are fitted to such a condition of 

 things. There is nothing so unremunerative, nothing so unsat- 

 isfactory, in farming, as the injudicious selection of animals for 

 our pastures — or the attempt to feed an animal upon land to 

 which by size, and shape, and constitution, he is unsuited. 

 Both animal and pasture must suffer. If we would enjoy, 

 therefore, the pleasure and profit which arise from an entire 

 fitness of things, we should govern our choice of animals by 

 the nature and capacity of our land. And if our pastures are 

 not as luxuriant as western valleys and prairies, let us not 

 repine ; for what nature loses in quantity, she is very apt to 

 make up in quality. The largest animals are by no means 

 always the best. Rapid growth and great accumulation of 

 external fat, either in cattle or sheep, may be gratifying to the 

 eye, and perhaps profitable when circumstances are favorable to 

 such development. But there is a quality of both beef and 

 mutton, grown to a moderate size, fed on sweet mountain 

 pastures, and lined and ingrained with well distributed fat, 

 which is more nutritious, and may be made just as profitable. 

 Size and quantity have great and irresistible charms ; but we 

 should not forget that quality is that hidden merit which 

 outweighs all others, and really endures to the end. 



The farmers of Massachusetts can easily judge — and so can 

 the farmers of Essex County — each for himself, to which of the 

 two classes of animals his lands are adapted. There are 

 spots in our Commonwealth where heavy cattle and sheep find 

 an abundance of food. But do we often see at our fairs heavy 

 mutton-shccp, which would attract the attention of those who 

 breed and feed such animals to perfection — sheep brought to 

 the highest point of excellence as mutton-sheep — Cotswolds, 



