Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-03-06

VI ffsE 5DNIuAi tSRtfts - as ~" ~~%N
upon the above title; and be commsnces
10 read with feelings akin 10 those fell
vhen picked up Bellamy's Looking
Backward
Ba. fear not, despondins reader, a. do
not propose TO take you along over the
lapse Of century; neither to q per1od OF
perfect happiness and eon,entment for even
beef producers. 1t 10 pleasant 20 note.
during these discouraging seasons, that
shsr. are I've papers ia the State (ths Ken
nebee Journal aud the Lewiston Journal)
that have occasionally had al encouraging
word 10 say. not only Of tas Importance
of Maine producing her own beef; bat also
Of the fact Of the superior quality and
health fuiness Of the beef ~e grow And
,rns, your columns will be . medium BY
which the consumers Of beef 10 our State
may learn to di,ceru the difference between
the healthful products Of our Maine herds,
and those from States that are overran with
disease. We have looked long and anxionsly
for q cheering word from that paper that
claims TO be the agricultural organ OF the
State, but have looked 40 far n vain the
little interest the agricultural editor hal IN
thi. industry probably dying out with the
close Of the Legislative investiga i'm OF
Tuberculosis
There are many times when it requires
greater amount Of courage 20 advocate
certain enterprise, or TO 90 into the pr0due
I on Of certain crops or to remain IN some
particular frtneh Of hu.b,ndry, simply
from the fact that that crop, OF that special
product is not commanding a remanerative
price at the time Now before going farther
TITO the advantages Of Beef Production IL
Maine" let Us look back soms forty years
and note the ups and downs, the changes
on prices Of the locks and herds, snd their
products. In these gloomy days we are apt
10 forget that there have been many seasons
when they were even darker than now.
When il seemed that the sun of prosperity
had forever set upon certain branches OF
our agriculture. When no one wanted GER
tain kinds of stock, and wondered that they
ever wanted il And yet in few
short years perhaps months. they were all
wondering at their short sightedness ana
ready to stock up al almost any pFice.
Show me the farmer who has kept on the
even tenor Of his way with his oxen, steers
and his sheep regardless of the ups and
downs in prices, and | will show you man
who has made farming success
In lstl. cattle airting from feet to
feet were sold, not one pair but hundreds
of pairs from s25s50 per pair, or from II
TO 3 cts per ID, net. In lsi7, beef went
up to cts. to 81 cts. net, huctuatng IN
prices scar that sum until the fall of 1859,
when feet cattle sold ss low az $50 pr
pair In 1858, there was sharp advance
in prices which run along until the winter
Of 1856 81, when prime cattle had advanced
50 that | sold all the oxen and steers
had that were over 2 years old to
Gideon Wells aud others, at prices
ranging from sls5a2+0 per pair. or cents
net Every man who ever had kept one
pair of cafile before. wanted two pairs then,
aud wondered how he got along without
them But in eight short months cattle
decn ned 80 per cent, and were drug
in the market At that price Then the
Yankee character" showed itself again.
These men who were so anxious to buy at
the high price, were quite as anxious TO get
rid of them. This state Of affairs contin ued
with slight charges, until the third year of
the war la the winter of 1923 sold the
choicest drove of cattle that could be col
lected in kennebec county to Horace Bax-
ter. in Brighton, at 81 II per hundred live
WtlEut-Or MOI over - Efhts btt.
were dark times indeed for beef producers,
but in less than two years duplicate of
that lot of cattle would have sold great
deal more readily at Is to 20 eents net.
The depression of the beef market the
foilowing year. and the enormous rise in
1863. when the choicest cattle sold for II
cts. alive, or II cts. dressed, is but another
one of the many instances of the reactions
in the prices of beef in our country. And
the desires of our farmers TO change In
their line of business only proves that 1t is
q characteristic of the American people to
Jump on when the elevator is up, and
jump Oft when it is near the bottom"
The changes in the condition of the mer.
camille values of dairy products have been
quite as great as those in beef. In Decem'
Der. 1879. hundreds of tons of best n. Y
State cheese could have been bought Al
5 cents per pound. The prices seemed Sc
ruinous to the dsirymen of that State that
thousands Of dairy cows were sacrificed al
nominal prices to the butchers.
But probably there has been more, an
greater fluctuations in the prices of sheer
than any other class of domestic animate
We have.
One not scqusi ated with sheep husbandry
would suppose to hear the extravsgsnt state
ments made during the last three months
that sheep were legal tender at 50 or SIC
a piece and always would be. And that al
one had to do to become millionaire wa
to obtain a few hundred sheep and takt
care of them.
Now. while | believe in sheep. having
kept them nearly all my life, let me say tC
those who may choose this branch OF hus
bsndry; do not be disappointed or dis
coursged if sheep fall in price 80 to 10 pei
cent within three years; and cattle go up ir
the ssme ratio. Stick TO the sheep, weed
out the flock. remembering that sheep have
their ups and downs about once in five years
| have seen focks of 81 to $40 sheep of one
year. sell within two years of the first sale
for 81 so to 81 90.
Iwell recollect during one of the severe
depressions in sheep busbandry some twenty
year. ago, Mr.. James Hilton of Stsrks-who
by the way has made sheep husbsndry a
life study and q success-was at my place
and the conversation turned upon the future
prospect of dock owners. Mr.. Hilton says
mo one wishes to see or hear of a sheep
now bat the time will come whe n
most all will wish to see them and buy
them too" Mr.. Hilton did not have to
wait long for the versiiication of his state
ment. Within two years sheep were boom
,Hg again. If a man has the sheep ferer
he should be sure that it IL a settled feret
not the intermittent kind. And then the
sheep business is one of the best in rural
New England,
But to return to our subject. What are
the discoursgements in Beef Production g.
Are they real and unsurmounta5le. or will
they. with the reeeding tide, pass away
If we accept the agricultural editor of the
Farmer" as authority; if the people of
Maine care nothing about the quality or
heslthfulness of the meat they eat; if the
retaining the millions of dollars that should
be annually sent GU, of our State to pay for
what can be raised at home is not to be
considered; If the millions of acres
of rich pasture within our borders
are to be left to grow up to weeds and
bushes. and this state of things is desirable /;
theu we do not care to engage in the pro-
duction of beef. Then truly may the eji-
tor of the Farmer say. as be did last spring
in his paper. that mo man will recommend
beef production. unless from seifsk mo
tires Nov. right here Gomez in an
.es,yma." II Maine eau compete with
the west in raising corn" (see Mr.. Gilbrt's
remarks at Farmers Institute in Franklin
county how is it that With the most nusri-
tious hay grown in the world. with millions
Of acres of splendid pastures. watered from
tens Of thousands of crystal springs, with
climate the most healthful on the face of
the globe. and market at our very doors.
Why is ii. that the beef industry is 50
soundly berated by man who is receiving
more than 81 900 per year, and besieging
every legislature for rise in salary, to do
something to help arrest the decline in
Agriculture in MaiueY-