BEEF FATTENING. 79 



Afternoon Session. 



The meeting was called to order at 2 o'clock ; Mr. God- 

 dard in the chair. The subject under discussion at the 

 adjournment of the forenoon session was resumed, and the 

 Chairman called upon Mr. E. F. Bowditch of Framingham. 



Mr. BoAVDiTCH. I should be very glad to respond to the 

 call of the Chariman, if I had anything to say upon the sub- 

 ject of fattening cattle, but I have not, never having done it. 



I wish to express my thanks to IVIr. Titus for the paper 

 which he has read. It has given me a great many ideas. I 

 agree with a great deal that he has put into his most inter- 

 esting paper, and I think the business of fattening cattle 

 could be put into practical shape, if the right men took hold 

 of it, with very little trouble. 



The Chairman. I have an impression that Mr. Wheeler 

 of Great Barrington can give us something interesting in 

 regard to this subject. 



Mr. Wheeler. I would like to say I was very much 

 interested in the paper that was read this morning ; and 

 while some features of it do not seem to me to be at all 

 practicable, — for instance, the co-operative idea, — still, I 

 think that the matter of producing beef here in New Eng- 

 land is a practicable matter, and one that may be profitably 

 entered into, perhaps, in a small way, by the farmers of the 

 grazing region of Massachusetts. It is no doubt a well- 

 established fact that our agriculture is largely connected 

 with dairying, and I believe that in the near future the 

 dairying interests will be carried on mainly under the co- 

 operative method ; but of course there will be sections where 

 there will be individual farmers who cannot avail themselves 

 of these advantages, and I think under those circumstances 

 they may well turn their attention to cattle-raising for beef 

 purposes. 



Now, in regard to raising our beef animals here, L do not 

 know why it cannot be done. We know very well that we 

 can raise our milch cows very much better than we can buy 

 them. That is practicable, and that is done to a very large 

 extent by dairymen. Certainly in the western part of the 

 State we find that we can raise our cows cheaper than we 



