12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



f 



at the outset, have grown vigorously, and come into bearing 

 condition at a much earlier period than seedlings. 



The Qommittee make the latter suggestion as the result of 

 their individual experience and observation. 



John C. Bartlett. 



Henry H. Peters. 



Ephraim W. Bull. 



Dr. Loring of the Essex Society, presented the following 



EEPORT ON CATTLE BREEDING AND FEEDING. 



The question of " the raising of cattle, with the cost in 

 quantity and kind of food, and the breeds best suited to different 

 purposes," seems to include the whole system of cattle hus- 

 bandry ; and is a matter of the deepest importance to every 

 farmer. There is no branch of husbandry so universal, none 

 more capable of yielding fair profits, none more important, none 

 more dependent upon good farming, and none more likely to be 

 attended by good farming when properly pursued. The value 

 and utility of horses, no one questions. Of the profits and benefits 

 of sheep husbandry in certain localities, no one can doubt. The 

 hog, among some nations, has entered largely into the supply of 

 animal food for man. But wherever man resides, whether 

 civilized or savage, whether roving or stationary, whether on 

 mountain pastures or in cultivated and luxuriant valleys, in 

 good farming and in poor, in every spot where grass grows for 

 cattle, and "herb for the service of man," there the herd attends 

 him, and supplies him with food, and labor, and clothing, and 

 the means of tilling the earth. 



The breeding of cattle has occupied the attention of some of 

 the most careful observers, and closest experimenters, in the 

 list of active and progressive farmers. The labors of Bakewell, 

 and the traditionary rules which guided him, still have their 

 value. The name of Colling will endure, so long as the 

 enonomy of farming requires a rapid production of beef, for 

 the supply of populous markets. And wherever the dtyry con- 

 stitutes the chief agricultural business, the practical sagacity of 

 Aiton will ever be remembered. Under the guidance of such 

 men as these, the aboriginal cattle of England, those wild droves 



