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as it should goyem us, to a very considerable degree, in the 

 selection of our animals. The early-maturing, quick-fattening 

 heavy English sheep need luxuriant pastures, in which but lit- 

 tle exercise is required in the pursuit of food. Climbing high 

 hills, and cropping short grasses, cannot conduce to large and 

 rapid accumulations of fat, or to heavy growth. "Wherever, 

 therefore, we would feed mutton-sheep, we must be sure that 

 we have an abundance of food so easy of access as not to in- 

 terfere with that sluggishness and ease which they require for 

 their full development. On the other hand, if our pastures are 

 hilly, rough, and clothed with somewhat scanty herbage, we 

 must select those animals whose size and habits are fitted to 

 such a condition of things. There is nothing so unremuner- 

 ative, nothing so unsatisfactory, in farming, as the injudicious 

 selection of animals for our pastures — or the attempt to feed 

 an animal upon land to which by size, and shape, and consti- 

 tution, he is unsuited. Both animal and pasture must suffer. 

 If wc would enjoy, therefore, that pleasure and profit which 

 arise from an entire fitness of things, we should govern our 

 choice of animals by the nature and capacity of our land. And 

 if our pastures are not as luxuriant as western valleys and 

 prairies, let us not repine ; for what nature loses in quantity, 

 she is very apt to make up in quality. The largest animals are 

 by no means always the best. Rapid growth and great accu- 

 mulation of external fat either in cattle or sheep, may be grati- 

 fying to the eye, and perhaps profitable when circumstances are 

 favorable to such development. But there is a quality of both 

 beef and mutton, grown to a moderate size, fed on sweet moun- 

 tain pastures, and lined and ingrained with well distributed fat, 

 which is more nutritious, and may be made just as profitable. 

 Size and quantity have great and irresistible charms ; but we 

 should not forget that quality is that hidden merit which out- 

 weighs all others, and really endures to the end. 



The farmers of Massachusetts can easily judge — and so can 

 the farmers of Essex County — each for himself, to which of 

 the two classes of animals his lands are adapted. There are 



