192 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



we have in the young, modifications, through developments and 

 growths, going on continuously, supported from the mother; 

 and it is unthinkable that there is not an effect being pro- 

 duced, in turn, on the mother from these operations. 



Question. I would like to ask Mr. Harris which of the 

 various breeds he deems best to produce the results which he 

 has indicated as desirable ? 



Mr. Harris. I cannot answer that question. I really do 

 not know, it depends so much on circumstances. I keep the 

 Essex. I have bred Berkshires. I do not know which is the 

 best. I like the Essex, because I have got the Essex. Per- 

 haps the Suffolks are just as good. 



Mr. Dillon. Mr. Harris's modesty probably prevents 

 his expressing his preference. We shall have to infer it, 

 therefore, from the fact that he keeps the Essex. That seems 

 to be a proper conclusion. 



Mr. Goodman, of Lenox. Some of the suggestions of Mr. 

 Harris bring into prominence one or two subjects which, I 

 suppose, interest those of us who are practical farmers. I 

 suppose we do not come here entirely to be amused, but to 

 get some practical benefit from the essays which are read 

 here ; but it is a good deal like all other preaching. We 

 come to this place and listen with a great deal of amusement 

 aud interest to the remarks of the preacher, and go away with 

 these theories ; but it is my experience, and probably the 

 experience of other farmers, that after we leave these assem- 

 blages we are apt to forget what we have heard, until the 

 report of the Secretary comes round, in which the essays and 

 discussions are printed, and very few put the theories into 

 practice. 



There is one subject which more particularly interests the 

 farmers where I live, in the western part of the State, and 

 that is the subject of manures. I notice that whenever that 

 subject is discussed, — as was evident yesterday morning, — it 

 always excites great interest and inquiry ; and, as stated yes- 

 terday morning, the subject is never exhausted, and never 

 will be, so long as a Yankee farmer is in existence. But the 

 difficulty about it is, that our interest ends with the inquiries ; 

 w T e do not put the information we obtain to any practical use. 



