ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE. 433 



amount of grass; how to obtain such cows as shall, from the 

 consumption of a given amount of grass, produce the greatest 

 and best quantity of milk for butter or cheese; whether it is 

 better to sell the milk, or convert it into butter or cheese ; or 

 whether it be better to do all at different periods daring the 

 season — the end in view always being to secure the greatest 

 dividend for the money and labor invested; whether it will be 

 better to soil the cows, or turn them into the lot to feed upon 

 the grass themselves ; whether it will be better to raise the 

 calves, or send them to the butcher as soon as they arc old 

 enough for the market. 



Every farmer needs to know, in order to derive the greatest 

 gain from keeping stock of any kind he may choose, how to 

 select with reference to the end in view. If he raise sheep, 

 he needs to know how to select that variety which shall con- 

 vert the feed consumed into the greatest return, whether of 

 wool or mutton ; if cattle for the stall, how to select such as 

 shall convert their feed into the 'greatest amount of muscle and 

 tallow with the least waste ; how the feed shall be prepared 

 for the animals in order to do this. Reference is to be had, also, 

 to the temperature and ventilation of the stable where the ani- 

 mals are kept during the days of fattening. Experience, obser- 

 vation, and the fruit of right experiment can approximate very 

 near the truth in all these matters. With reference to the 

 breed of cattle, the great inquiry is, not, necessarily, which will 

 grow the largest, but which will, without reference to size, con- 

 vert grass and grain into gold fastest ; for what else is an ani- 

 mal, in the all-comprehensive view of economy, but a machine 

 to be employed for this very "purpose ? All else is mere fancy. 



In order to reach the highest perfection in the economy of 

 agriculture, it is necessary that the tiller of the soil should be 

 the proprietor of the same. Man labors more intensely when 

 working for himself, and those directly and rightfully depend- 

 ent upon him, than under any other conceivable circun 



The great improvement in the art of tilling and reclaiming 

 the soil in Flanders is owing chiefly to peasant proprietorship. 

 The Flemish people have practised, for centuries, rotation of 

 crops and economy of saving and making manures that are in- 

 troduced as modern discoveries in English farming, about which 



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