24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The above named committee presented the following 



REPORT 



ON THE RENOVATION OP EXHAUSTED PASTURES. 



No subject connected with agriculture more especially 

 demands investigation than the renovation of exhausted pas- 

 ture lands. 



The importance of the grass crop will be justly appreciated 

 when it is remembered that no other crop equals it in value, 

 not even the cotton crop of the South. It bears a similar rela- 

 tion to the other products of the farm that agriculture bears to 

 the other interests and occupations of civilized communities. 

 It is the basis of the farmer's success ; it is his first, his con- 

 tinual and last dependence. His milk, butter, cheese, bread, 

 meats, fruits, vegetables, the labor of his teams and his own 

 labors, immediately or remotely, are derived from and sustained 

 by his crops of grass. 



It is a well known fact, that the pasture lands of nearly all 

 New England are, in a great degree, exhausted of the substances 

 most essential to the growth of those grasses which are alone 

 suited to the production of bone, muscle and milk. In short, 

 that they are greatly impoverished, and that this is the result 

 of constant and too close cropping, without adequate returns. 



Pursuant to the action of the Board, about one thousand 

 circulars, on the subject of exhausted pasture lands, were dis- 

 tributed, it is believed, to individuals in every town in the State, 

 with the earnest request and the expressed or implied promise 

 that they should be answered and returned to the Secretary 

 by the 15th of November last. The circulars were distributed 

 early in May, and up to the 29th of November only twenty-five 

 had been returned, and these, with few exceptions, contained 

 very meagre and unsatisfactory replies to the inquiries proposed ; 

 but as far as they extend, they concur very generally in support 

 ol' the following facts and propositions: — 



1. That the grazing lands of the State are greatly exhausted 

 — feeding from one-sixth to three-sixths less stock than the 

 oainc fed twenty-five to forty years ago. 



