84 SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SELECTION AND CARE OF LIVE-STOCK. 



189. EVERY farmer and planter finds it absolutely 

 necessary to keep some kind of live-stock on his 

 farm or plantation. Such work as plowing and haul- 

 ing requires horses, mules, or oxen, while a variety 

 of products raised on every farm can only be made 

 profitable by being fed to cattle, sheep, and hogs, 

 and thus turned into beef, mutton, pork, and bacon. 

 The proper selection and management of such stock 

 become matters of great importance. Attention will 

 be called to a few guiding principles. 



190. The kind of stock to be kept, above what 

 is necessary for the absolute wants of the farm in the 

 way of performing work, and furnishing food, will in 

 each case depend upon the system of farming adopted 

 as best suited to the nature and size of the farm. In 

 selecting stock, whether sheep, cattle, horses, or hogs, 

 the same common-sense principles should govern as 

 in other things. The best breeds, that is, those 

 best suited for particular purposes, should be se- 

 lected, as they are in general the most economical. 

 If the farmer wishes to raise beef, or mutton, or pork, 

 for the market, he should select those breeds that 

 can make the most flesh out of a given amount of 

 food. Meat-producing animals are machines for 

 converting vegetable food into flesh, and those breeds 

 that give the greatest yield with the least care and 



