No. 4.] BEEF PRODUCTION IN NEW ENGLAND. 81 



gained in tliat old pasture. Our pastures are rough and 

 rugged, up and down, hills and holes. 



Question. How would you fertilize pastures? 



Professor Sanbokn. I would apply in the spring at first 

 300 to 400 pounds of phosphate and then each year a modest 

 amount of nitrate of soda, the first time 100 pounds or more 

 and then but little. Our soils are generally rich in potash, 

 but I would put on a little. 



Mr. G. IT. Ellis (of West Newton). Do you find it 

 more profitable to grow milk and butter in your locality, or 

 beef? 



Professor Sanborn. As I am situated I think it is better 

 and more profitable for me to sell milk. 



Mr. Ellis. You use a Shorthorn cow, do you, for your 

 purpose ? 



Professor Sanborn. I began wrong by buying the best 

 cows I could find in my neighborhood. Now I am coming 

 to breed my own. I use the Holstein and occasionally Short- 

 horn to keep up the quality of milk to the Massachusetts 

 standard. I mix the milk. Your law requires 3.7 per cent 

 fat, mine reaches 4. 



Question. Would you keep any different kind of stock 

 for furnishing cream for the creamery than for furnishing 

 milk for Boston ? ]\Iy experience is to grow calves and feed 

 them from five months to a year old, and then turn the cream 

 into the creamery ; that is the best paying thing in the dairy 

 business I know of. 



Professor Sanborn. I certainly should. I should not 

 use the same cow. 



Dr. J. B. LiNDSEY (of Amherst) . We had some experi- 

 ence at the experiment station ten years ago in growing 

 beef. It was not particularly encouraging. One thing that 

 impressed me was this : that the steers that were obtained 

 made, comparatively speaking, a very poor growth. They 

 were bought, perhaps in the immediate neighborhood, when 

 they were 500 or 600 pounds in weight, and kept until they 

 weighed 1,200 to 1,500 pounds. We found these steers only 

 made about 11/4 pounds live weight each day. I thought 

 that small, and one of the points I made in writing up those 



