IXTRODUCTIOX. 15 



have long been accustomed to work, better tlian of old. We 

 plow, and we sow, and we mow, and we reap, and harvest, and 

 secure our crops somewhat better than our fathers did. "We 

 build better barns and shelters for our crops and farm slock than 

 thej could' afford. "We do many things better than they were 

 accustomed to do, in the less enlightened days of their experi 

 ence. We have numerous agricultural papers, edited by 

 intelligent men and teachers. We interchange our ideas through 

 them. We have our annual Agricultural Society meetings and 

 exhibitions, in a majority of our States, and in multitudes of 

 counties, and towns, and neighborhoods of the different States. 

 Our stock, in the main, is better than the farm stock of fifty 

 years ago ; but it can be made better by thirty per cent, than it 

 is, by a trifle more knowledge and experience than we now 

 possess, and a better practice in taking care of them. We owe 

 an immense debt of gratitude to those generous and enterprising 

 men who, of late years, at so much cost and pains, have 

 expended their time and money in introducing improved breeds 

 from abroad, and urging attention to them upon those who, but 

 for their efforts, would still be groping in the dullness of past 

 times, and delving through all their abortive attempts to " get 

 on,'' and strive, in their own darkness, at success. 



It is to be regretted that there exists no accurate data on 

 which to compute the annual slaughter and consumption of beef 

 and veal in our country. No returns of this kind have been 

 made in the census department of the government, and it is 

 impossible to fairly conjecture its extent. New York City, and 

 its immediate vicinity absorbs about 6,000 head of beeves weekly, 

 making 312,000 per annum, besides multitudes of veal calves, 

 and large numbers of milk cows, store cattle and working oxen, 

 which are bought for use in the surrounding country, and of 

 which we seldom hear anything again. The Philadelphia and 

 Baltimore markets probably take as many more, and the New 



