ANIMALS AND THKIR PRODUCTS. 103 



will give little value in milk, while others will give 

 much ; that some sheep give almost valueless fleeces, 

 others valuable ones ; and that some breeds of swine 

 are all-consuming, but ever lean. It makes a wide dif- 

 ference, whether food be thrown out at random, or be 

 given with regularity and discretion ; and whether 

 animals be made comfortable by adapting circum- 

 stances to their several natures, or be left to continual 

 suffering. The farmer knows, or may know, that if he 

 selects the consumers of his produce wisely and keeps 

 them properly, they will give him a return of some 10 

 dollars a ton for his hay, 6 per cent, or more for the 

 value of his pastures ; and a fair remuneration for his 

 corn and roots, together with a moderate compensation 

 for his care for them ; while if he neglects these con- 

 ditions, he gets but half the value of his hay, grain, 

 roots and pasturing, and nothing for his trouble, un- 

 less it be the pleasure of railing and complaining that 

 his is an unprofitable business. 



GENERAL TREATMENT OP ANIMALS. 



187. The conditions of farming are absolute and un- 

 alterable. We have seen that the farmer cannot sell 

 the products of his fields abroad. He must dispose of 

 them mainly at home. The inmates of his barn, fold, 

 and sty, must be his pay-masters. They are " good 

 pay" if he manages wisely. If he do!?s not, he has no 

 right to complain, and thus sink his profession in the 

 estimation of his sons and his neighbors. As the far 

 mer's animals are his customers and his pay-masters, 

 he should use them well for his own sake. There is a 



