n 



our women, and gave us that priceless blessing in these degenerate days, 

 — good sweet butter. A clean, sweet, well-ordered dairy room, is fully as 

 pleasant and useful an appendage to a farm house, as a piano, a sewing- 

 machine, or a melodeon. 



The remarks which I have made with regard to our cattle are also true 

 with regard to our horses. It is conceded by the best judges that we have 

 a New England horse, the growth of our hill pastures and our sharp clear 

 climate, which is unsurpassed for his vigor, endurance and strength — and 

 whose value is estimated not by his size and weight, but by his docility and 

 power, and by the economy with which he can keep himself in condition 

 for work. It is found that New York and Pennsylvania can furnish the 

 heavy draught horse for drags and teams, and the slow, stylish carriage 

 horse for the adornment of the luxurious equipage. But it is also found 

 that the compact, strong, medium-sized horse of New England has a pe- 

 culiar fitness for the farmer and for that rapid driving on the road of which 

 we are all so fond. We are looking back over the history of the New 

 England horse, and we find that the introduction of the Justin Morgan, is 

 counted as the great step in the improvement of horses here, and that that 

 little horse gave more profit to the farmer, and more reputation to New 

 England than has ever been derived from thorough-bred, or Cleveland Bay 

 or Percheron, or from the heavy, clumsy animals of Pennsylvania and the 

 West. The best horses at the agricultural exhibition are small or medium 

 sized horses, bred in New England. I think the future prospects of horse- 

 breeding in New England are flattering, il we may judge from the signs of 

 the times. 



The sheep-husbandry of New England has reached a degree of excel 

 lence, of which we have reason to be proud ; and by which it is destined 

 to become one of the most important and profitable branches of farming. 

 For many years the West has been drawing its most valuable animals from 

 the flocks of Vermont. It has been discovered that the kind of sheep bred 

 there, combines more good qualities, for the general business of producing 

 wool and mutton, than any other sheep known. The profit of Western 

 flocks has been largely increased by the infusion of Merino blood from that 

 state. And we may be sure that the animal now called the " Improved 

 American Merino," the special product of New England, will ultimately 

 enhance the profits of sheep-husbandry in this country, as largely as did 

 the diffusion of Spanish Merino blood develop the same industry in Europe 

 — producing the Saxony, Siberian, French, and other finc-wooled breeds, 

 now so well known there. The American Merino has been brought to 



