20 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



purposes of meat. So that in one case, cattle husbandry means 

 breeding, with all the nice laws that control that business ; in 

 another case, cattle husbandry means merely the selection of 

 proper animals for feeding during the winter, or pasturing 

 during the summer ; in another case, cattle husbandry means 

 the selection of cows for the dairy, either for the summer dairy 

 alone, or for the production of milk during all the months of 

 the year. So that cattle husbandry really means tlie selection, 

 the breeding, and the feeding of cattle. 



In the first place, in regard to selection. Are there any 

 rules by which we can be guided in the choice of animals for 

 our farm ? One man lives upon a clay soil, his land is adapted 

 to the production of grass and root-crops, and is situated near a 

 large city, where he has a market for milk. His business 

 seems to be one thing, and he selects animals that are adapted 

 to the purpose of supplying that market with milk, and with 

 that alone ; and his object is to select cattle that can be 

 wintered upon his land. Another man lives upon a hilly pas- 

 ture, remote from market. His lands furnish rich, sweet 

 pasturage, and the selection of animals with him is a different 

 thing. And so each man, each farm, each county, each State, , 

 at any rate, each section of our country, requires a different 

 selection of animals ; one for one purpose, another for another 

 purpose. 



I find, in looking over the statistics of the cattle of the United 

 States, that notwithstanding the vast amount of meat that is 

 produced in many sections, the percentage of cows predominates 

 very largely, in the New England States, over that of all other 

 cattle ; I mean, over oxen and steers, and other cattle that are 

 kept for stores ; and it is so in New York State, in the Middle 

 States, and even in the Southern and many of the South-western 

 States, where we are in the habit of thinking that meat alone is 

 the great product of the farm. It seems to me, therefore, 

 especially important that the American, and particularly the 

 New England farmer, should select cattle that are specially 

 adapted to the dairy ; perhaps not for that alone, but mainly 

 for that, so that when the production of meat is unremunerative, 

 he will be able to resort to the dairy as the means from which 

 he can run his farm. 



