72 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



" "Within the past nine years I raised and sold five pairs of 

 four-year olds at an average of $115.60 ; and three pairs of 

 three-year olds at an average of 180. I now have a pair 

 three years old the present month, which girth six feet two 

 inches. 



" If a heifer does not give evidence of being a No. 1 cow, I 

 fatten her tlie fall after her first coming in milk. 



" Of five which came in last spring, four were right. The 

 fifth, which was two years old in April, came in milk that 

 month, but was not what I wished. She was milked till the 

 last of September, was slaughtered the 22d of December, and 

 her dressed weight was 600 pounds." 



We might give other estimates, or add our own, but these 

 vary so much, under different circumstances, that they will be 

 deemed only approximate. And we feel justified in saying that 

 if the foregoing estimates are low, — an increase of expenditure 

 would aiford a proportionate increased result. 



We have already said that the raising of young stock for 

 beef may be made a. source of profit in portions of Massachu- 

 setts. An important advantage to be derived from this course 

 is the ability to improve the dairy cows and working oxen, by 

 retaining such only as give promise of approaching towards 

 perfection in those departments. 



We do not advise abandoning the dairy, or the production of 

 beef to any considerable extent in the immediate vicinity of 

 cities or manufacturing villages, where milk is in constant 

 demand and at remunerative prices ; yet we doubt the wisdom 

 and economy of the course pursued by many, of sending to the 

 cities large quantities of this valuable and indispensable article, 

 at prices which appear equivalent to an extraction of tivo dol- 

 lars from the soil to put one in the pocket. We would not be 

 understood as wishing to enhance to the consumer the. price of 

 this, or any article of consumption above a fair remuneration ; 

 and, without elaborating upon the evil alluded to, simply sug- 

 gest that when the price of any production falls below the cost 

 of producing, added to the drain upon the soil, it should be at 

 once abandoned. 



In order to insure success in any branch of farming, the 

 appliance of skill is an important requisite, and in none is it 

 more so than in the one under consideration. Indeed, skill 



