46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Prof. Stockbridge. I have seen porgy pomace, or fish guano 

 as we generally term it, used in various ways on the farms of 

 Massachusetts. It is quite generally used there as a compost. 

 The farmers there like to kill two birds with one stone, and the 

 porgy pomace will develop the muck, and the muck makes a 

 valuable compost. I have seen the pomace sown broadcast on 

 the land and plowed in, and harrowed and cultivated in, with 

 good effects in all cases. From my stand point I should never 

 use it alone. It is one of the best practical sources of nitrogen. 

 I think it must be cheaper than sulphate of ammonia. If you put 

 potash with it, it will be more valuable than in any other form I 

 know of. 



Mr. Peter W. ^^yer of Waldo county. I am mortified to think 

 that our pasture land in New England has deteriorated so badly. 

 In my section the farmers adopt a mixed method, and feed their 

 pasture with sheep as well as cattle and horses. It has been our 

 practice to have our pastures in several inclosures, and feed with 

 sheep several years, then change to cattle, and do the same over 

 and over again. Now under that system of pasturing our pastures 

 have not deteriorated in the manner spoken of, though I know 

 that ihey are not so good as those in the valley of the Kennebec, 

 of the Stbasticook, or of the Sandy river. I know very nearly 

 the size of many farms and the stock they carry, and reducing the 

 sheep to cattle as to the amount they require, I think with us it 

 takes about three acres of land to carry a cow. Now why is it 

 that pasturing with sheep enriches the land ? Do they return 

 more nitrogenous matter to the land in their manure than cattle, 

 or does the carcass of the sheep require less of these essential 

 elements to built it up? Also what would be the effect of top- 

 dressing with gypsum ? 



Prof. Stockbridge. From the stand point of the gentleman, the 

 manure of sheep is no better on a pasture than that of cattle. 



Mr. Ayer. I know that sheep will make a pasture miserably 

 poor for themselves in making it rich for cattle. 



Prof. Stockbridge. The question cannot be answered fully in 

 a moment. I said that in Holland an acre of land will carry a 

 cow and a sheep. Wliy not a cow and a calf? Because the 

 cow and the calf would seek the same plants for their food, and a 

 cow and a sheep wouldn't, and so if we pasture these two on the 

 same land they will not interfere at all with each other. But if 

 you pasture land heavily with sheep alone, they will bite the plants 



