200 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. ' 



per cent, profit annually ; and yet how many farmers having 

 two such cows for sale would, make more than ten, or twenty, 

 or, at most thirty dollars difference in the price ? The profit 

 from one is eighteen dollars a year ; in ten years, one hun- 

 dred and eighty dollars, besides the annual accumulations of 

 interest. The profit of the other is nothing. If the seller has 

 need to keep one, would he not be wiser to give away the 

 first than to part with the second for one hundred dollars ? 

 Suppose, again, that an acre of grass or a ton of hay cost five 

 dollars, and that for its consumption by a given set of animals 

 the farmer gets a return of five dollars' worth of labor, or meat, 

 or wool, or milk. He is selling his crop at cost, and makes no 

 profit. Suppose by employing other animals, better horses, 

 better cows, oxen, and sheep, he can get ten dollars per ton in 

 return. How much are the latter worth more than the former ? 

 Have they not doubled the value of the crops, and increased the 

 value of farming from nothing to one hundred per cent. ? 

 Except that the manure is not doubled, and the animals would 

 some day need to be replaced, could he not as well afford to 

 give the price of his farm for one set as to £iccept the other as a 

 gift? 



" Among many, who are, in fact, ignorant of what goes to 

 constitute merit in a breeding animal, there is an inclination to 

 treat as imaginary and unreal, the higher values placed upon 

 well-bred animals over those of mixed origin, unless they are 

 larger and handsomer in proportion to the price demanded. 

 The sums paid for qualities which are not at once apparent to 

 the eye are stigmatized as fancy prices. It is not denied that 

 fancy prices are sometimes, perhaps often, paid ; for there are 

 probably few who are not willing occasionally to pay for what 

 pleases them, aside from any other merit commensurate to the 

 price. But, on the other hand, it is fully as true that great 

 intrinsic value for breeding purposes may exist in an animal, 

 and make very little show. Such a one may not even look so 

 well to a casual observer, as a grade, or cross-bred animal, 

 which, although quite as valuable to the grazier or butcher, is 

 not, for breeding purposes, worth a tenth part as much. 



" Let us suppose two farmers need a bull. They go to seek, 

 and two are offered, both two years old, of similar color, form, 

 and general appearance. One is offered for twenty dollars ; for 

 the other a hundred is demanded. Satisfactory evidence is 



