390 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
of their market value, in case he wished to sell them. This 
man, no doubt, proved the old adage to be true, “ that the half 
was better than the whole;” and possibly if our practice in other 
matters on the farm was reduced to a scientific system, ic might be 
found true in more than one instance. It is too much the rule to 
count our crops by the acre, instead of by the bushel, and our sheep 
and cattle by the hundred, instead of the net cash products from 
them, considering it foolishness and a waste of time, to keep an 
account of debt and credit with the farm. There are, however, 
some exceptions to this rule, as I am happy to say, for I know of 
men who not only keep proper accounts, but a diary of the day’s 
transactions, and a note of the weather, which is a book of valuable 
reference. 
The Frenchman’s receipt for cooking a hare, is to first get your 
hare; so after securing the fine herd, either for beef or for the dairy, 
to neglect them would be very poor policy. But I fear that good 
herds of cattle and cows properly kept and cared for in this section 
of the country is the exception, and not the rule; and, in making 
this remark I would not find fault with any man’s science or prac¬ 
tice; but comparing your own with the best you know of in others, 
does it satisfy you? If not then seek to improve your practice. By 
care and painstaking the different breeds of cattle have been 
brought to their high state of perfection, until now we can send to 
England better Durham stock than we had from there in 1817, when 
the first bull was imported into Massachusetts. We have just as 
good Ayrshires as were ever brought from Scotland, or Jerseys as 
ever came from that little island, where they were bred and cared 
for by special enactments, to preserve a distinct race. All of this 
has been the practical results of a few scientific farmers and dairy¬ 
men, who had a love for their calling; and much can be learned 
from these successful farmers and dairymen to the benefit of all the 
rest. I have said that breed and feed were the two important con¬ 
siderations to success; and feed here is intended to embrace the 
whole of the care and keep of the animal. It is just as necessary 
to have good pastures and good water as it is to have good shelter 
for our stock. The fine gilt-edged butter that we hear so much 
said about, produced in some of those private dairies near Phila¬ 
delphia, is the result of good cows, good sweet mixed grasses in 
the pasture, good pure water, good fine hay, cut before it is mature. 
