2l8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



stantly on your g-uard that grazing does not go far enough 

 to affect the condition of the forest. It is just as well if you 

 can keep the woodlot absolutely separate from the pasture. 



And then, of course, you must keep out fire. Fire is the 

 worst foe of all to the woodlot. A young farmer was telling 

 me not long ago how near his house there was a very dense 

 grove of young saplings. " You could not see into them at 

 all," he said. " If a cow got in there I could not find her. 

 But last spring, when the leaves were dry, I touched a match 

 to them, and the fire went up like a flash." Now perhaps it 

 was best for him to make that land into pasture, though I 

 doubt it very much. I do not believe, however, that he had 

 ever given the question whether the land would be better un- 

 der forest or for pasture a moment's consideration. He simply 

 looked upon that young growth as brush. If he had left a five 

 dollar bill lying around and a little child had touched a match 

 to it, and it had " gone up like a flash," I think he would have 

 found some speedy way of making a very distinct and posi- 

 tive impression upon that child of the fact that he had done a 

 mischievous and wasteful thing. Yet, from my point of view, 

 he had probably done just exactly that kind of a thing himself. 

 Fire must be kept out if we are going to have our woodlots 

 amount to anything at all. 



The farmer who will bear these things in mind, who will 

 seek for information, who will make his forest produce all that 

 it is capable of, will not only do a good thing for himself and 

 his family but will also be doing something toward the public 

 good. In making his own land most useful he will be helping 

 to make and keep this country great, rich, and prosperous 

 among the nations of the earth. 



•» 



Tlie President. I do not trouble myself much about al- 

 falfa, but I would like to know more about it, and we have a 

 gentleman here who I think has been sitting up nights with 

 the problem. Dr. Jenkins, of the Conn. Agrl. Experiment Sta- 

 tion, New Haven, and whatever he tells us is sure to be well 

 worth hearing, so I am going to introduce Dr. Jenkins to say 

 something about alfalfa. 



