No. 1.] LIVE STOCK IN MASSACHUSETTS. 201 



more profitiiblc in (he long run than purchasing cows and k(;cphig them 

 only one or two milking periods before sending them to the butcher. 



Beef Cattle. 



The lack of suitable abattoirs in the small towns of New England 

 is a drawback to the raising of beef in this section, but those farmers 

 who are located at some distance from the railroad and on cheap land 

 might well consider the advisability of keeping a beef or dual-purpose 

 breed. The dairymen of England, farming on higli-j)riced land, keep 

 many Shorthorn cattle, and although the milking habit of the Short- 

 horn as a breed in America has been allowed to degenerate, some 

 milking strains remain, and could undoubtedly be imi^roved and kept 

 with profit on some farms. 



The increase in the number of working oxen in several New England 

 towns during the last two or three years is worthy of notice. Oxen can 

 never take the place of horses as in the early days, but the farmer who 

 has more work than one team can do, and not enough for two teams, 

 will find a yoke of oxen an inexpensive help. They are less costly than 

 horses, and in case of accident, lack of work or a rising market can be 

 sold for beef. The difficulty in obtaining men who understand driving 

 and handling them is perhaps the chief objection to their use. 



Horses. 

 There is a good demand in the cities of the State for heavy draft 

 horses, and those weighing 1,400 pounds or over nearly always com- 

 mand a good price. The horses to supply this demand come from 

 Ohio and the States to the west of it. There is no good reason why 

 these horses should not be raised in Massachusetts. Our soil and 

 climate are well adapted to raising horses of good quality and strong 

 bone, and a heavier horse could be used with advantage on New 

 England farms. It is time that we recognized in New England more 

 fully than we do the advent of modern farm machinery, and the need 

 of preparing for it and making plans for its profitable use by clearing 

 out stone walls, underdraining wet places and doing away with fences 

 wherever possible. When this is done we shall see that a man can 

 just as easily direct a team weighing 3,000 pounds as one weighing 

 2,000, and that the former will be the more economical per unit of work 

 done. The labor problem, as all farmers know, is still awaiting solu- 

 tion, and this is but a suggestion. The following quotation is from an 

 article by M. W. Harper, in a recent number of the "Cornell Country- 

 man," and is worthy of repetition: — 



The heavy horse can be produced with less effort and less risk to marc and 

 foal. The brood mare should be worked up to the time of foaling; it is better 

 for her. The heavy mare is more phlegmatic, not so apt to injure herself or 

 the colt while in foal, as is the lighter and higher strung mare. Again, when 

 the colts are young, they are not so active, not so apt to hurt themselves, as 

 are the lighter and higher strung animals. And even if they should blemish 



