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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



creation. He believed there was no more striking 

 proof of the goodness of Providence to man than 

 is displayed in associating with him, as has been 

 done, the inferior animals. He supposed the time 

 was, when the families of domesticated animals, 

 such as the horse, the ox, the dog and others, ex- 

 isted in as wild a state as the buffalo and the ti- 

 ger — the j were as wild but not so savage. Now 

 what had guided man to the selection of some 

 eight or ten or twelve of these families or races 

 which time and patience could domesticate? It 

 could only have been done by wisdom from above. 

 That there is ultimate relation between man and 

 these races of animals, we see by a thousand strik- 

 ing facts. He mentioned, especially, vaccination, 

 a mild and gentle disease, which we take from the 

 coav, and which is almost an infallible safeguard 

 against one of the worst maladies to which the 

 human race is exposed. 



From the nature of these domestic annuals, as 

 he had attempted to indicate it, he drew two 

 practical deductions : — First — inasmuch as these 

 animals have, in some respects, a nature similar 

 to man, it follows that they are subject to laws of 

 health analogous to those applicable to us. So if 

 the farmer would keep his stock in order either for 

 work, milk, or beef, he must keep them in good 

 health, and the necessary means must be used as 

 well as in the case of man. It is no more possi- 

 ble that animals can do their duty when in an un- 

 healthy state, than it is for man to do his duty in 

 a similar state. He would not say that the fibre in 

 animals was as tender as in man, but they do feel 

 to some extent the causes which operate on the 

 health of man. The horse requires good food, 

 proper shelter, and pure atmosphere to enjoy 

 health, as much as a man. 



One other consideration was that these animals 

 which compose our inferior family household (so 

 to speak of them) have not only the same organ- 

 ic nature, but have the same nervous system, and 

 are sensible to pain as much as man. He men- 

 tioned as a striking fact, the circumstance, that 

 though Providence has not given to the inferior 

 animals the power of speech in which to describe 

 their sufferings, man, who has this power, is driven 

 in his'intensest agonies to utter his feelings in inar- 

 ticulate groans ; and thus both man and beast 

 give utterance to their feelings in the same way 

 They are entitled to the same treatment. The 

 man who would treat a beast unkindly and cruel 

 ly, he said was no man — but at heart, a brute 

 These humble members of our family arc sensible 

 to kindness as well as to pain. They know when 

 they are well treated, and exhibit their gratitude 

 for it. Ho wished for no better test of a thought 

 ful, prudent, considerate farmer, than the manner 

 in which he treated his farm stock, and he would 

 rather go to his final account like the poor Indian 

 whose religion taught him that after death he 



shall enter the happy land with his trusty dog, 

 than as the Christian who goes to church on the 

 Sabbath, and on the week day cruelly beats his 

 faithful ox with a walnut whip handle, or whips 

 his over-worked horse till the strained tendons are 

 ready to snap from their attachments. 



Mr. J. W. Proctor, of Danvers, was the next 

 speaker. He said the care of the stock on the 

 farm necessarily engrosses a large share of the 

 farmers' attention through the year. When we 

 reflect that it takes very little more feed, and no 

 more labor, to take care of a good animal, than a 

 poor one, the benefit of care in the selection of 

 animals will be so apparent, that no one who once 

 understands it, will ever be inattentive to it. 

 Take, for instance, a stock of cows that yield on 

 an average 2 gallons of milk per day, through the 

 8 months of then: milking season — which is as 

 much as can be averaged of dairy stock gener- 

 ally, upon our farms, and suppose this quantity to 

 be increased to three gallons, will it not be appa- 

 rent that the last product would be a thriving 

 business — where the first might afford but a scan- 

 ty living to man and beast 1 Very many go on 

 month after month, and year after year, without 

 any particular inquiry or examination into these 

 things. I have known a cow to be milked through 

 the season, and highly estimated for the quantity 

 she gave, when in fact, for the purpose for which 

 it was used, her milk was of little or no value. 

 The farmer should be as careful in testing the 

 quality of his milk, as the quantity, and should 

 never keep a cow, that does not give milk of the 

 quality that he wants. Those who are experi- 

 enced in these matters, can probably form some 

 opinion, by the form and appearance of the ani- 

 mals ; but the better way of judging, is, by actual 

 trial of their milk. This done, there can be no 

 mistake. I know dairy stock, that have been reg- 

 ulated upon this principle, where the produce has 

 been increased twenty-five per cent., at least, in the 

 course of two years. 



The same care that improves the dairy stock, 

 the most important branch of stock upon our 

 farm, can be applied with equal benefit to other 

 branches of stock. I know a farmer who has for 

 years been attentive to rearing and disciplining 

 working cattle — the consequence is that his cattle, 

 at four years of age, will command thirty-three per 

 cent, more than those reared without such care. 

 In a word, to ensure success to the operations on 

 a farm, whatever may be the department of labor, 

 vigilance and care are necessary ; where these are 

 applied — the consequence will be certain — where 

 they are wanting, the consequence will be equally 

 certain, though of a character entirely different. 



A very small proportion of the farmers, in the 

 eastern part of Massachusetts, raise their own 

 stock. Their herds are generally replenished by 

 the purchase of two-year olds, that come in, in the 



