378 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



those of some of the other occupations. Our farmers have 

 Yankee enough in them to know what good meat is, and ability- 

 sufficient to make use of such for their tables. 



But the question recurs, What is to be done in order to make 

 the best of beef and pork abundant ? We say that, first of all, 

 there must be sought out by experiment, and then carefully 

 practised, better and cheaper modes for fattening animals. 

 We believe the thing is feasible — that proper effort in this di- 

 rection will be successful. We would at present only hint at 

 the subject. The question is not so much how we may fatten 

 our best breeds of cattle or the young and most thriving ani- 

 mals, — though in regard even to these great improvement may 

 doubtless be made, — but the chief difficulty lies in fattening 

 better and cheaper our oxen that have been inured to hard 

 labor, and our cows that have become too old to become prof- 

 itable in the dairy. It is desirable that the farmer should have 

 the profit and the honor of selling them for first-class beef, and 

 that the consumer should have the comfort of eating the same. 



We have no doubt that proper trial can show how this can 

 be done. For example : Our aged cow, whose appearance indi- 

 cates that she was fit for little else than "crow-bait," has been 

 taken about the first of May, and in the course of a month, by 

 bleeding, nursing and careful feeding, put in a thriving condi- 

 tion. In another month she was made fair-looking beef, and 

 before the month of September was sold for a good article. 

 If beef that is speedily fattened is better, and if our ordinary 

 grass-fed cattle could be prepared for market in one-half the 

 usual time by daily additional feeding with meal during the 

 summer months, there would evidently be a good gain to the 

 farmer. 



Another important question pertaining to this subject is the 

 fattening of swine. We believe that, aside from a careful se- 

 lection of the best breeds, attention should here be chiefly 

 directed to three points — the health, the comfort and the dis- 

 position of the animal. Much lias been .-aid about warm and 

 convenient pens, cleanliness, ventilation, &c, which needs to be 

 put in practice. We should like to have set before us a series 

 of more careful experiments in the regular feeding of swine 

 than have yet been made. We believe important knowledge 



