358 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. / 



on the national debt of Great Britain ; we believe 

 this, and therefore call the attention of our read- 

 ers to the necessity for economj' in fencing. Li 

 many parts of the country hedges are used with 

 advantage, but in some districts the land is too 

 valuable to be thus used, and in such locality econ- 

 omy in fencing becomes important. — Working 

 Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE CATTLE DISEASE AND THE 

 LEGISLATUBE. 



Mr. Editor :7— Is it not strange that the mem- 

 bers of the Legislature — the men selected by the 

 people to represent them — to act for them — to 

 promote their interests — the picked men of the 

 State, should conspire to reduce the State to the 

 verge of bankruptcy, to beggar their constituents, 

 to slaughter whole herds of the finest cattle in the 

 Commonwealth, to destroy the cattle upon a 

 thousand hills, to ruin the trade in beef and milk 

 and butter and cheese, to interrupt the business 

 of farming all ever the Commonwealth, to ruin 

 the drovers and butchers, and to discourage every 

 department of agriculture — and all for what P 

 Why, to make themselves popular ! To gratify 

 a few white-handkerchief gentlemen who have 

 got frightened because some cows have sick- 

 ened and died ? And in addition to all the above 

 accumulated evils which they have inflicted upon 

 the people, they have levied a tax upon them- 

 selves and their constituents of $100,000 ! to pay 

 a set of noddies for doing all this mischief. They 

 have allowed themselves to be convinced that the 

 disease among the cattle is contagious, notwith- 

 standing certain venerable doctors in Boston do 

 not think there is suflicient proof of the fact ! 

 AVonderful ! Surely the Legislature will no lon- 

 ger claim to be the assembled wisdom of the Com- 

 monwealth. What can be the motive for im- 

 posing such an oppressive tax upon the poor peo- 

 ple ? Is the Legislature trying to ape the mon- 

 archical Governments of England, Holland, Bel- 

 gium and Prussia, who have expended some mil- 

 lions of dollars to extirpate the same disease ? 

 Have they been creating offices to reward politi- 

 cal partisans ? What can their motive be ? Be- 

 cause the Governor called them together, and gave 

 them an opportunity to vote themselves $50 

 apiece, did each member feel bound to do $50 

 worth of mischief ? 



But seriously, has the Legislature reduced the 

 Commonwealth to the verge of banki'uptcy ? Has 

 it done irrem'?diable injury to the best interests of 

 the State ? Has the Legislature injured ]\Ir, Che- 

 ncry to the amount of $15,000 ? Has it convert- 

 ed the green j)astures of the Commonwealth into 

 a great slaughter-yard ? 



It has simply recognized existing facts, and put 

 the people of the State upon their guard against 

 the prevalence of a great calamity, and furnished 

 them with the means of protecting themselves and 

 their interests. If ever men came together with 

 an earnest desire to ascertain the truth, and do 

 their duty, the members of the Legislature came 

 together with that desire, and devoted themselves 

 faithfully to their work. It is easy to say that the 

 commissioners have destroyed 640 cattle, and the 

 Legislature has laid a tax of $100,000. These 

 numbers sound, large to those of us who are not 



accustomed to deal in large sums, and men who 

 like to find fault, and who are addicted to making 

 speeches, can ring the changes upon them, until 

 thcj' become a great aff'air. 



But, Mr. Editor, let us look at a few figures in 

 another relation, and perhaps it may tend to allay 

 our fears. I have before me five numbers of the 

 Neui EiKjland Farmer. I take them up and look 

 at the number of beeves reported at Cambridge 

 and Brighton markets for each week, and I find 

 reported on 



May 12 1700 



" 26 1£00 



June 2 1650 



" 9 1282 



" 16 1125 



Here are the reports for five weeks in May and 

 June of the present year. The whole number 

 anlounts to 7,257. This divided by 5 gives 1451 

 as the average number for each of these five weeks. 

 Now, if we suppose each of these beeves to weigh 

 G cwt., and to be worth $6 per cwt., which is cer- 

 tainly a very low estimate, both as to quantity and 

 price, the whole value will be $52,236. We no- 

 tice that the sales have diminished about one- 

 third during those five weeks. But we suppose 

 this always occurs more or less at this season of 

 the year. Yeal is plenty and lambs are coming 

 into market. The stall-fed cattle are mostly used 

 up, and cattle are not quite ready to come in from 

 the pastures, and green vegetables are in the mar- 

 ket. But we notice especially the fact that the 

 number of cattle needed for the market of Boston 

 and vicinity is 1451 per Aveek, even for this sea- 

 son of the year. A reference to the reports for the 

 autumn and winter will, doubtless, show that the 

 consumption is more than 2000 weekly. The 

 Commissioners have killed 640 cattle, less than 

 half a week's supply for the Boston market. We 

 notice another fact ; the value of the cattle slaugh- 

 tered by the butchers of this neighborhood week- 

 ly is more than $52,000, or more than half the 

 tax of $100,000. Now we suppose the sale has 

 diminished in other parts of the State as much as 

 at the Boston markets. If so, it cannot be doubt- 

 ed that more than twice as many cattle have been 

 saved already, as the Commissioners have de- 

 stroyed, and as the $100,000 would hardly pay 

 for two weeks supply of beef, we think this sum 

 has been nearly saved alreat^y by the diminished 

 consumption of beef, and will be saved more than 

 twice over during the summer, so that we do not 

 see that we have any cause of alarm lest the 

 stock should run out, or the State be made bank- 

 rupt. 



There have been fewer cattle driven to market 

 from this State, thus far this season, and will be 

 through the summer, than if there had been no 

 disease among us, and there can be no doubt that 

 there will be more cattle in the State, at the end 

 of the season, than if the Commissioners had not 

 killed a single animal, to say nothing of the num- 

 bers that will be saved from contagion through 

 their eff'orts. 



No more of the tax vail be expended than may 

 be needed, and we think there is reason to hope 

 that not more than half the sum in addition to the 

 $10,000 previously appropriated, will be re- 

 quired. But the Legislature acted wisely in pro- 

 viding ample means, so that the Commissioners 

 may be al)le to carry out all the measures which 



