SECRETARY'S REPORT. 69 



branch of our sulyoct, it is fair and just to say that those 

 farmers, who have been most persistent in this course of feeding, 

 will at least compare favorably with others pecuniarily, while 

 their farms are at ])resent in a higher state of cultivation than 

 those of their neighbors who have pursued a different and 

 opposite policy. 



The second grade or class of beef is produced mainly by 

 grass, and from cows rejected from the dairy. 



This branch has a wider range than the one already con- 

 sidered, being pursued to considerable extent in all the five 

 western counties of the State. 



That this a source of greater direct profit to the feeder than 

 the former, admits of no doubt. From the most reliable 

 authority, we feel it safe to say that an average advance of 

 thirty-three per cent, upon the purchase may be relied upon 

 in return for six months' pasturing, or from ten to fifteen dol- 

 lars per head. When suitable stock can readily be procured, 

 we believe that no better use can be made of a large portion of 

 our good pasturage, and particularly, that portion lying too 

 remote from the homestead to be conveniently appropriated to 

 the use of the dairy. 



In regard to the production of beef, by either method already 

 noticed, it should be observed, that the animals fattened have 

 previously passed from first hands ; so that while they may yield 

 a profit, and a large one, to the feeder, it is by no means certain 

 that the breeder has not suffered a loss, equal to, or even 

 greater than the profit of the feeder. Again, the cow or ox 

 may, by its milk or its labor, have yielded a profit in first hands, 

 while the feeder suffers loss. Yet we assume as a fact which 

 we believe can be demonstrated, that with ordinary care, even 

 under the present bad system, or rather want of system, in 

 breeding, the production of beef in portions of Massachusetts 

 is both profitable and expedient. 



Upon a majority of the farms of Massachusetts, a portion of 

 the labor can doubtless be most economically performed by oxen, 

 and none will deny that in tlieir breeding reference should be 

 had to their ultimate fitness for the shambles. But with cows, 

 and for the dairy, many claim, and with a show of reason, that 

 the weight or quality of carcase is of no account. 



