The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-10-14
Give Stock-raising its Turn.

tlVe bCOck-ra1s1nG tts furn.
Beef cattle are selling in this city New
York; at higher prices per head than hor-
ses at least poor cattle are going at a
hundred dollars or more, and poor horses
will not bring so much. We have seen
sales to day of plenty of good cattle at
Sl20 to $3.50, aud other sales have been
made at higher rates still-June No,
American Agricuitnrsst. I'D. f.i.......,
But these extravagant rates are not con-
fined to New York. The cattle-market
reports Of all our chief cities, show alike
increase in the price of fat cattle; and ey-
en- in the smaller towns Of rural districts,
q sirloin of good beef sufficient for sin
gle meal Of a moderate family requires as
much money as one stout-armed laborer
can earn in day. Within FIVE years the
price of beef has advanced from ON aver
age of three dollars to ten or twelve per
cwt., and is still rising. ..
The cause is probably two-fold; First,
a growth of the consuming over, and a.
bove the producing population, thereby in
creasing both the absolute and relative
demand and secondly, the fact that of
late years the attention of American far
mers has been more than usually turned
to the raising Of grain, particularly corn
and wheat, to the relative exclusion of
the various kinds of stock.
The remedy naturally suggests ITSELF
and will come in due time. 1t is not in
the nature of things that all these mat, ers
should preserve Il perfect equilibrium,
but there is an element in human society
which will always eventuats in the restor.
alton of the lost balance. This year for
eign war, or some other circumstance,
largely increases the demand for certain
products, and the whole producing COM
munity goes to work to meet it of course
theresult will be an overplus, after lit
tie time, and reduced prices But in the
meantime the neglected product comes in
to deficiency, and in turn makes its in
creased demand and so evermore this o.
cillation and alienation goes on. .t
1t is in accordance with this natural
law, that here and there the far.seeing
producer OF dealer becomes 80 suddenly
and easily wealthy While others are IN
tent on the matter in hand, and the reap
ing Of immediate reward, our philoso-
pher looks about him to see what interest
is being most largely neglected, and just
at the time when prices attain to their
maximum he is ready with large supplies;
and so by being little behind hs is al.
ways good deal ahead, illustrating to
his less provident neighbors how 1.-The first
shall be last and the last first" '"~ ''
But inasmuch as some time is necessa-
| ry for the the breeding Of deficient stock,
we would urge upon farmers the impor-
tance of rearing and mitufing their young
now so foolishly sacrificed to the desired
for immediate gain. Devote less land to
wheat, and more to corn and grass, so as
to be sure of feed enough for additional
stock, and then, instead Of selling fine
young calves and lambs for the merest
triHe, as is now too common, adopt the
most economic method of feeding and
winter protection, with q certainty Of q
much larger percentage on the capital in.
vested than is now realized from crops OF
grain.
Moreover, there is an indirect profit,
by no means triAing, in the economy Of
the means employed for while continued
cropping and expectation Of grain must
inevitably impoverish the soil, the sys-
TEN of stock raising, if we'll conducted, il
able to maintain its fertility for an indie
finite period-the increased value of tbs
elements after being run through the an
imal machine and subjected to the inAu.
ence of the vital forces, quite compensa'
ting for the actual loss Of the small por
tion removed in the form OF flesh and
bone. .. ... ..
Again, since the grasses feed so largely
upon the atmosphere, it must be evident
that here, too, is source Of gain which,
added to the other, makes it doubly eleal
that fertility can be much longer main
aimed on the stock than on the grain
farm.
Let those, then, who are convinced Of
the soundness Of our argument, judicious.
ly test the policy We have marked ont
and hold US responsible for the result =
Wisconsin Farmer. m