224 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE, 



secure its benefits, as that of any other country. No climate is 

 better than ours, for the growth of clover and corn. We need not 

 look to Europe with the view to adopt their crops of tares, vetches, 

 lucerne, peas, and so forth, neither shall we find it necessary to 

 grow rye, oats, buck-wheat, and so forth. 



Grass, corn and cabbages, with the tops of our carrots and man- 

 golds, will furnish us with as sure a succession of feed, as if we were 

 to embrace a dozen other crops. Any succulent vegetable relished 

 by cattle, may be used ; and these may be adopted at the discretion 

 of every farmer. The best rules that could be drawn from past ex- 

 perience, I would not offer you to-day for your guidance in this 

 matter, with any expectation that they would hold good for coming 

 years. Italian rye- grass, of which more than one variety has appeared 

 in England, and in this country, is highly recommended as a soiling 

 crop. Mr. Kennedy, of Ayrshire, Scotland, sowed twelve and one- 

 half English acres, and during three months, after it had grown to 

 a size for cutting, it afforded feeding to eighty head of fatting cattle, 

 and twenty horses. The horses had oats, and the cattle four pounds 

 of oil-cake daily. Twenty of these cattle gave a profit of $12,50 a 

 head for six weeks' keep. 



I have not time now to extend this communication so as to em- 

 brace all that should be said in this connection. The system I here 

 advocate has reference to arable land ; to every man's land which 

 admits the plow and the scythe. Its full or partial adoption will 

 improve the condition of every farmer who wants manure at a cheap 

 and easy rate. It should be adopted at once in nearly every case 

 of that great number to be found in and around our cities, towns and 

 villages, who keep one or two cows. It should be adopted by our 

 ten, fifteen, or twenty-acre men ; as upon it, they may build up a 

 most prosperous husbandry, with little capital or risk. 



The nature of many farms in the State will not admit the system 

 in full. With rocky land, enclosed with substantial fences, yielding 

 good pasturage, and not easily and quickly restored to wood, soiling 

 has nothing to do. The system once fairly introduced, would vastly 

 benefit the State by causing many a rocky plain and hill-side to be 

 returned to grow valuable wood and timber.* 



* An Americin gentleman of considerable celebrity, once said in an Agricul- 

 tural address, " One of these days I mean to take time to write a much needed essay on 

 ' the art of letting land alone.' " I hope this promised essay may soon appear. The 



