Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-01-14


consGmptive products are high grades
though the same animals are essentially y
unit to head the farm flock or herd. Ii
is safe to say that the bsst and safest
immediate cash returns the farmers OF
the United States have ever received
from any source have thus been obtain
cd from their grade stock. How to Sc
cure the most ssrvicsable grades is
therefore, point deserving close atten'
ton; and they can be scared only by
the judicious use of thorougb0reds.
The merit of any particular breed Of
stock for any farmer is measured by it:
adaptation to his individual need. What
may be just the thing for one may bt
wholly unsuited TO another, according
to his location, his circumstances, his
tastes, his experience, and his fscilitie:
for the various modes Of utilizing farm
stock. All these points should be weigh
ed in stocking up, and the neglect of any
of them is likely to be at the expense OF
failure to realize from the choice all that
was within reach. When men similarly
circumstanced and seemingly of equally
good judgment so, often show prefer
snce for breeds distinctly different,to be
used for common purpose, it would
seem that there is soms ground for dis.
crediting the importance of adapting
ones choice to ones needs. However,
observation will show that it is only
those farmers who pay attention to this
point who succeed at ali as stock raisers
and that those who instead buy on a
passing whim are the first to pronounce
blooded stock failure.
There should be nothing haphazard in
introducing well-bred stock on the farm.
1t should be in pursuance of a clearly
defined plan, originating in mature re-
hection, and based upon an ultimate de-
cision in the formation of which all the
arguments bearing upon the matter, pro
and con, have played part La making
up his mind the farmer wants to satisfy
himself, first, of ths capabilities of the
various breeds Of stock upon the market
Then he wants to oelect for his own use
not necessarily that which will do a
BIG thing, but that 8hicb Will do THE
thing which he wants done. The horse
which will trot a mile 10 21l minutes is
not one-fonrth as valuable to the farm
er as the horse which will walk that dis
tance in 10 minutes-snd what to the
turfman is merit is to him matter OF
little or no consequence. OF how much
service would Jay Fye-See and Little
Brown jug be as team for plowing
sod ? aid yet how highly they are valu'
ed by horsenen of different typel
If the farmer is located 80 miles from
RAILROAD OF market, and his cattle must
go into consumption as beef, it is of lit
tie more significance to him that some
of his cows give four gallons of milk per
day than that others give but two, as
outside of the dairy needs of his farm
beef is the only product from this stock
which he can, under the circumstances
handle to advantage. If, however, he
be so located that dairying must be his
staple business in connection with cat4
tie, his choice of breeds is to rest upon
entirely different considerations, and the
points before ignored are potent factors
in making his selection. Is this the
stock 1 want? is the first question of the
purchaser, to whom it is matter of lit
tie moment what any breed will do fol
some one who has an altogether differ.
ent object iii view.
To avoid disappointment in purchasing
high-bred stock for farm uses it is well
not to indulge in sXtravagant eXpecta-
tions concerning it. Every breed has It's
records of superlative performance ol
yield-fgures which are significant of
nothing in particular except what expert
skill painstaking effort and lavish ex
penditure eau accomplish in taking ad.
vantage of rarely developed natural Ca
pabilities. These records aresvaluable
as indicating this, aad in some degree
che susceptibility of various breeds to
special treatment. But no one would
justify farmer in stocking up with
Jersey COWS in the hope of duplicating
the yield of Mary Ann of st. Lamberts
or in going into Shortborns with ths
idea that every fat steer he could grow
would rival Clarence Kirkle vington OIL
Roam Boy. If he choose Jerseys let it be
because the representative Jersey suits
his purpose better than the representa-
tive animal of any other breed with
which he is acquainted, and let his
choice of Shorthorns Herefords, Guern-
seys, Holsteins, Ayrshires or Polls resi-
Upon the same ground.
Rare achievement of the kind alluded
to is consequent upon the fact of rare
training and development in tue stock,
and accomplished expertness and rare
experience in the stockman. No one
would expect the best horSeman in this
meeting to take farm horse out one OF
your pixies in 2:024 trot. That time
known but once In history, was made
possible only by tue skill of Bair, by the
tineness of the Cleveland track, and by
the peerless makeup and training of
Maud s., the lack of any one of which
conditions would have rendered the fea
impossible. The doiug of great things
with stock must be undertaken on ex-
actly the sans principles on which indi-
vidual achievement Is based. When one
starts out to accomplish the unpreoe>
dented he needs to have every circum
stance in any way affecting the outcome
so shaped that it will contribute to sue
cess. If those in attendance here to-day
who live at a distance, were to start 10
walk home in a haphaZard Course across
the hills, on wager that they would
beat the time of of Powell or a West.
ton, the ludicrou3ness of the attempt
would be its only striking feature.
Every one knows that.even with their
magnifcently developed muscles, the
great pedestrians never waste their en-