Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-26
HAY NOT so HIGH
Considering the Small Crop That
 Was Harvested.

Notwithstanding that the crop of hay is poor this year it is much cheaper than 1t was last season and if it keeps coming into the market it will soon be down to point where the consumer would like to see it, SIP or $15 ton You can buy old hay now for SIS a. ton and new hay can be had for $16 or S17. This time last year it was over 8 ton above the figures quoted. If hay could be bought right many could afford to keep COW. and in this way supply their own family with milk Ald butter instead of trusting to others.
 There is vast amount of unde- veloped property in Waterbury that is yielding nothing. and if it were fenced could be made to pay the taxes at least as pasture lands for cows and horses. What is the reason a COW cannot be kept to advantage now as well as earlier in the history of the town? Some will tell you 1t doesn't pay, but it is question if this is the right answer People have acquired the habit of having everything deliv- cred to them at their homes ready for use. and they cannot brook the thought of doing anything that looks like a little labor. No wonder the milk dealers cannot supply the demand. \ few years ago almost everybody on the outskirts of the town had COW or two, but now COW is something to be wondered at in private fanl- fly so much so that many scarcely know what it is. The milk vender will tell you that you can buy cheaper from him than you can supply your self with milk and butter That is not so. A good COW will furnish milk and butter for family and pay for her own keeping besides. This is quite an item and if people were not too much occupied with other things that give no returns. with the excep- tion of wasted energy and vicious habits, they could make that saving with very little effort. It costs fam fly in the neighborhood of $1O0 a year for milk and butter and then you don't know what you are getting half the time. good COW can be bought for about $45 or $50. and in one year she will pay for herself, besides giv- ing the family an abundance of pure milk and excellent butter To be sure there is some trouble with her. but it is pretty hard to get anything for nothing these days. and besides the average citizen doesn't care to devote any time to doing chores and women folks have all they can attend to in the house. If the milk supply keeps getting scarce the price of the article will be pushed up so that ordinary mortals will have to get along without 1t unless they return to the method in vogue when most of us were boys and the COW was considered almost essential to right living with every body who had a place to keep it or could secure stand" for one at reasonable price.
 We are all slaves of custom and as a result people are not making as much progress now as in the past. although times are as good as they were in the days when wages were low and the cost of living practically as high as they are at the present time If. boys were trained to utilize their time at some thing In this line. they would be bet ter employed and more likely to make useful citizens later on than they can he expected by allowing them to grow up with the idea that the world owes them living without turning a hand. It Is nothing to be ashamed of. When Mir Bronson of New Haven talked. here during his race for the governship he boasted of his experiences; in mindin- cows for his father in the pasture lands of Waterbury. and one of the things said of the late Secretary Hay that occasioned much favorable com ment was his skill in washing dishes for his mother. Any honest avocation is preferable to idleness for A boy. and it is the part of wisdom to keep him occupied al something of this sort and make him feel that he has got to work for living even though his pa- rents have the means to bring him up differently.