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common oxen, and to do it as well, before they are half grown 

 or matured, preparing steers for the yoke ought to be a special 

 trade, which should wholly occupy the time of those whose 

 natural temperament and ability render them peculiarly fitted 

 for the business. The well trained and fully developed ox is a 

 powerful animal, and can be made, if rightly governed, to do 

 great work for the farmer. How few working oxen there are, 

 that are well matched in strength and tractability. There are 

 thousands of them owned by the farmers of Massachusetts to- 

 day, that would not and could not make so good an appearance 

 on the cattle show grounds, as the two pairs of two years old 

 steers exhibited this day. This should not be. So much 

 latent, unemployed strength in the ox, is one of the great 

 wastes in the economy of farming. Tlie farmer cannot afford 

 it ; for it costs no more, if it does as much, to keep an ox 

 whose muscles are well trained and fully developed, each set of 

 which is ready at any moment to perform its own peculiar 

 office in the most economical manner, than an ox of the same 

 size and weight, which by a defect in his early training can be 

 made to do hardly one-half the amount of work. 



Your committee, also, are convinced more than ever that it 

 will not pay to raise scrub steers. Many farmers are so Ameri- 

 can, thorough-bred, native-born, that any breed of cattle that 

 has a foreign name attached to it, is condemned with prejudice, 

 and without trial, and is not appreciated for what merit it 

 really does possess. It costs but little more to raise a good, well 

 proportioned steer than an inferior one ; but there is a great 

 difference in their value when they become three or four years 

 old. One of your committee had an opportunity to notice this 

 difference in the manner of raising steers, and consequently in 

 their value. Two droves of Vgrmont cattle came into town on 

 the same day. One came from a section of the State where the 

 improvement of the stock was rapidly progressing, by the 

 introduction of foreign and improved breeds a few years ago ; 

 the other came from a section where but very little attention 

 had been given to this object. A casual observer could discern 

 at once the superior excellence of the one over the other. The 

 cause of this was apparent, and upon inquiry proved real. The 

 result was as will naturally be supposed. Quick and ready 

 sales, at advanced prices, were made from the more excellent 



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