SECRETARY'S REPORT. 91 



is nothing equal to a good heavy stone wall ; there are some 

 places where a hedge answers a good purpose, and is both 

 ornamental and useful. Wire fences are also made at a cost !is 

 low as forty cents per rod, though not of sufficient strength 

 to turn cattle, and running from that to $1.50 p^r rod ; iron 

 hurdles are made in sections of six or eight feet long, joined 

 together by a bolt and nut, which are perfectly secure against 

 cattle, for about $2 per rod. Where it is necessary or conven- 

 ient to divide off land for grazing temporarily, hurdles of iron, 

 or movable fences of boards, can be used. There are two or 

 three kinds of these last, for which patents have been secured, 

 which are easily set up or moved, and can be made from seventy- 

 five to eighty cents per rod. Where it is thought best to graze 

 sheep or cows on orcharding, mowing, or on a portion of land 

 that is undivided, this portable fence is very useful and conven- 

 ient, and ought to be brought into more general use. When 

 not wanted it can be easily taken down and stored. 



It is a waste for any farmer to raise or keep poor stock of any 

 kind. It costs no more to rear a good animal than a poor one ; 

 and it does not cost so much to keep a good one as a poor one ; 

 if an animal is allowed to grow poor it costs much more to put 

 an equal number of pounds on him than if he had been kept 

 thriving : indeed, with a sheep it's almost impossible, the old 

 saying being that " a sheep is never twice fat." Mr. Mechi 

 says, " it is more profitable to buy a half fat or thriving animal 

 than a very lean or half starved one. The latter eats more, is 

 longer getting ripe, and you have less weight to sell with a profit ; 

 but if you purchase a half fat beast at five cents per pound and 

 get him out of hand quickly at six cents per pound, you get 

 twenty per cent, witliout cost on what you bought, and in addi- 

 tion are paid six cents per pound for all the fat you have put 

 on. I feel assured that the best bred animals, although 

 at a greater cost, pay better than those which are coarse, badly 

 bred, ill-shaped, large-headed, and big-boned ; for, make them 

 as fat as you will, they only command a second-rate price." 

 So, too, in breeding is a waste ; farmers are often grossly to 

 blame in not using the best males within their reach for breeding 

 purposes, because, perhaps, it is a mile further off or half a 

 dollar more than an inferior animal owned by some careless 

 neighbor ; and so, for that paltry consideration, they waste their 



