^4 ESSAY. 



regard all reformatory efforts as utopian and not likely 

 to promote their interests in any direction. But what 

 are the facts ? Comparing trained with untrained cattle 

 the former will command, in the general market, from 

 five to twenty-five dollars more per yoke than the latter. 

 And in localities where beauty and facility of manage- 

 ment goat their maximum price the difference is greater. 

 The common remark with intelligent buyers is — 

 " Money is no object — we are willing to pay for cattle 

 that are well matched, smart, and handy." But there 

 are minor advantages growing out of judicious discipline 

 which are not so readily apprehended, and which are not 

 so easily made appreciable. I will notice a few of the 

 most prominent. One fair resultant— and which will be 

 readily granted — is the facility of movement acquired in 

 the process of training. One of the most common 

 wheel conveyances in use upon the farm is the Ox-cart; 

 and it is no inconsiderable point of economy to be able 

 to change cattle off and on to this vehicle easily and 

 rapidly. In busy seasons, what is the advantage of 

 smartness and dexterity in a hired man, if the farmer 

 cannot make it available through his team, with which 

 the man is so constantly required to operate? Among 

 all the varied positions in which wagons and carts 

 require to be placed, there often exists the necessity 

 of "backing;" and none but the best trained cattLe 

 are able to execute this maneuver with facility. Indeed, 

 an acquaintance with working cattle extending over a 

 period of twenty years has failed to furnish a single 

 instance of a pair perfect in this respect, who were not 

 the subjects of constant and persistent training and use, 

 from calves upward to four-?/ ears-old. Almost every farm 

 barn thirty years ago was constructed so that u backing 



