10 



greatly ; some yielding milk of the richest quality j and the 

 milk of others being worthless.* 



II. In respect to sheep husbandry and the raising of young 

 stock many farms from their rough and mountainous charac- 

 ter are adapted solely to these objects. The raising of 

 neat stock, however, beyond the consumption of coarse fodder 

 upon a farm, is not a source of great profit, unless upon land 

 of low price. The stall-feeding of beef animals upon hay 

 and meal is likewise a very doubtful source of gain at the 

 average price of hay and grain among us. Few farmers have 

 exactness enough of calculation or experiment to determine 

 whether it does or does not yield a fair compensation for their 

 labor and produce ; and the purchasing of cattle for the 

 purpose of stall-feeding, is so much matter of judgment, 

 skill in trade, or mere accident, the thrift of different animals 

 is so different, the state of the market is so precarious, and by 

 the present mode of management the farmer is liable to so many 

 impositions and frauds on, the part of dishonest dealers and 

 butchers, that the chance of success is by many judicious far- 

 mers considered very small. It were greatly to be wished 

 that some mode or standard could be adopted of selling the 

 animal by live weight on the hoof, to avoid the evils and in- 

 conveniences of the present mode,, by which the seller is pla- 

 ced entirely at the mercy of the buyer with no security against 

 fraud and with scarcely the possibility of redress. 



It is confidently believed that the sheep husbandry, when, 

 judiciously pursued, affords far better prospect of gain. It is 

 ascertained, that no husbandry will do more to preserve and 

 improve the condition of a farm ; and those farmers, who have 



* In a former publication, I have stated a fact coming under my own 

 observation, that in an experiment of milk taken at the same time and 

 placed in the same situation and where the cows were fed in the same 

 manner, the milk of one cow yielded at the rate of one inch and three tenths 

 of an inch of cream upon nine inches of milk, arid that of another cow in 

 same yard produced only two tenths in the quality of the milk of the Iwo 

 cows for Iho-pjarnose of "making butter,, the difference then was 13 to 2,. 



