440 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



neighbors what they cannot succeed in. As I have remarked 

 once before, the profits of farming, when conducted in the best 

 manner, are not large enough to justify a prudent man to run 

 the risk of any loss by a mistake. A shrewd and intelligent 

 friend of mine tells me that, with men of limited means, the 

 undertaking to improve the breeds of cattle leads certainly to 

 but one result, and that is, bankruptcy. Of course if this be 

 true, I should be very far from recommending any attempts of 

 this sort to the practical farmer. But here is a field for some 

 of the more wealthy citizens who can afford to risk, and even 

 to lose something in the endeavor to advance this great public 

 interest. A good cow is not a very uncommon thing, but a 

 good breed of cows, that may be depended upon in the way 

 we find the Durham, and the Ayrshire, and the Alderney breed 

 are depended upon in England, or the Murzthal cows in Hun- 

 gary, is yet a great desideratum in America. That these breeds 

 will answer the purpose here that they do in their own country, 

 I very much doubt. The influence of climate and food upon 

 the physical properties of living beings is well understood, al- 

 though the causes of it are as deeply hidden in mystery as ever. 

 The Anglo-Saxon race of men in New England, where it has 

 been preserved more free from mixture than elsewhere in 

 America, is now perceptibly different from the same race in the 

 mother country. And just so is it with animals. What is it 

 that gives to certain tracts of land the peculiar reputation 

 which they possess for their butter and cheese, both in Europe 

 and America ? Certainly not the mere superiority in manage- 

 ment, or the peculiarity of the stock, for both of these ele- 

 ments may be transferred with ease from place to place. It 

 can only be some local excellence in the soil from which the 

 cattle gain their subsistence. The fact of the difference of the 

 product of tracts that are contiguous is perfectly well estab- 

 lished. Not unfrequently a narrow pathway divides, in France, 

 those grapes which yield wine of the first quality, from the 

 same sort of grapes that will produce only a common sort. In 

 Germany, no human art has yet succeeded in extending the 

 territory that yields the most celebrated vintage. The tea 

 plant has thus far resisted all attempts made to transfer it from 



