22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



expense of the dairy qualities for which it is especially valuable 

 in this section, where it is particularly appropriate. 



What shall we do, then ? One man tells you that the Short- 

 horn is the best animal he can breed, and why. Another man 

 tells you the Ayrshire is the best animal for him. Another 

 man says that he wouldn't own a farm that did not have a Jer- 

 sey cow on it ; yellow butter, not much of it, but good ; he 

 wouldn't have a farm without a Jersey cow. Another man tells 

 you. he wouldn't give sixpence for a farm if it wasn't stocked 

 with handsome, straight-bodied, nice-horned, rich-colored Devons. 

 Another man must see a white-faced Hereford looking over his 

 fence before he has any agricultural peace in his soul. What, 

 I repeat, are we to do ? I suppose the only rule we can adopt is 

 for every man to learn the quality and capacity of his farm, and 

 then make his selection. 



Now, if I were to tell you that there was any farmer in Mas- 

 sachusetts who owned 520 acres of land, and the best land iii 

 the Commonwealth, who is capable of making meat here for the 

 market, and make money enough from it to. support his family 

 and educate his children, you would be astonished. As a gen- 

 eral rule, it is said that no man can feed beef to a profit in 

 Massachusetts ; and yet, right in the most expensive districts of 

 Massachusetts, where farmers are obliged to pay large rents for 

 their lands, high prices for grain, and from $70 to $80 a ton for 

 their oil cake, farmers are making the largest profits of any in 

 the world, almost, simply by the production of beef on their 

 farms. They know it ; they understand how it is done ; they 

 have ascertained the rule by which a pound of beef can be made 

 more cheaply than by any otlier rule, and they make money on 

 their farms in that way. They have selected cattle for that 

 purpose. It would be folly and nonsense for them to go into 

 that business and get a stock of Ayrshires and expect to turn 

 them into beef profitably, where they are making Hereford and 

 Devon beef to a profit. No Massachusetts farmer upon the 

 hillsides of Berkshire would think of undertaking to raise a 

 herd of Jersey cows simply for the purpose of supplying a few 

 wealthy customers with choice butter at seventy-five cents or a 

 dollar a pound. The transportation of the butter interferes 

 with the profit of the product ; it is impossible for him, and he 

 must turn his attention to something else — perhaps the mauu- 



