SECRETARY'S REPORT. 203 



tained. A large extent of land is sown to oats year after year, 

 with no dressing, but it is commonly seeded down to wheat with 

 a light manuring. Eye is raised somewhat largely, and good 

 potatoes are also grown. Many of the farmers pay some atten- 

 tion to the growing of clover,* in order to obtain the seed, which 

 finds a market in older portions of the county. Hay is cut in great 

 quantities, and finds a ready sale at good prices, being mostly 

 carried into the logging swamps. The stock of this region sus- 

 tains a good reputation ; the cows, working oxen, sheep and horses 

 will compare well with other sections of the county. 



I have now briefly noticed the principal crops of this section, 

 which, in addition to my previous account contained in the first 

 chapter of this survey, is all that is necessary. I wish here to 

 refer to one or two defects in connection with the farming opera- 

 tions upon Dead river. 



First, I cannot but regard the plan as ruinous which the farmers 

 practice, of growing so many successive crops upon the same 

 land, without the application of manure. Xow that the soil is new 

 and fertile, great returns may be taken ofi" and no diminution pres- 

 ently felt, either in the produce per acre, or in the strength of the 

 land ; but how will it be fifteen, thirty or fifty years hence, when 

 the county is more largely settled, and when great crops will be 

 as much wanted as now, but which cannot be raised ? It is a com- 

 mon practice with farmers to sell ofi' most of their hay in the fall, 

 to lumbermen, the usual selling price of which is $12 per ton ; and 

 also the greater part of their oats, which bring from forty to fifty 

 cents the bushel. By this method, many winter but little stock, 

 principally young cattle, which they manage to get through upon 

 straw and rough fodder. This practice gives but little manure, 

 and that of a poor quality, which is but seldom used, for no ac- 

 count is made of it, hence little is as good as none. Some farmers, 

 however, who are satisfied of its importance to the land, and to 

 the growth of crops, consume all that is made upon their farms. 

 It is plain to see that if the present course is followed for years to 

 come, as it has been since it was settled, it will not be long before 



* The clover is cut -when about t-R-o-thirds of tlie heads are ripe. It is carted into 

 the barn and threshe<l out during the -winter season. This is done with flails, and 

 often by driving oxen over it as it lays on the floor. The clear seed is separated 

 from the chaff by means of a clover huUer, and what chaff remains, after having 

 been cleansed, is used by the formers in seeding their own land. The straw is fed 

 out to young stock. A ton of clover hay wiU produce about one hundred pounds 

 of clover seed, the usual price of which is ten cents per pound. 



