ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 51 



but yet more to the families of laborers, mechanics, mer- 

 chants, etc. 



Everybody knows that it costs no more to keep a good 

 cow than a poor one. But what is the use in talking so 

 when good ones are not to be had ? or to be had only at a 

 price which not one in fifty can afford ? But so far as we are 

 concerned, and so far as ninety-nine in a hundred are con- 

 cerned, of what use are these accounts except to make us 

 dissatisfied with our poor old cow without enabling us to 

 get a better ? It was all right to publish them, but the 

 sight of such facts reminded us of the low estate of our milk 

 cows, and of the woeful carelessness of farmers about im- 

 proving their stock. 



It is high time that farmers should endeavor to pro- 

 cure a good milk breed. It is well known that horses and 

 oxen are almost bred to order ; if a fore shoulder is too 

 slight, a breeder crosses so that in the next generation it 

 comes out right ; if the animal is too small he is enlarged ; 

 if too large he is condensed ; if the back is too long, the 

 leg too heavy, the muscle too spare, the head heavily or 

 clumsily put on, the breeder has skill, in a great measure, 

 to remedy the evils. Why then should it not be thought 

 both possible and. worth while to breed for good milking 

 properties ? 



The least trouble, not the best stock, seems to be the 

 question with most. The discouragement of debt, the low 

 prices of all farm products, the habits of arrant carelessness 

 whicli naturally belong to large farms, of rich lands, re- 

 moved from a ready market, and on which there is more 

 than enough for home use, and much waste of the surplus 

 because a poor sale for it ; these things are the causes why 

 but little attention is paid to good stock. To be sure, in 

 speculating times, large prices have been paid for animals 

 of repute. And now, if fancy prices could be realized, 

 there are thousands who would beg, borrow, or steal enough 

 to rush madly into the raising of improved br3eds Even 



