2 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUEE. 



which without this demand would be of no value. The 

 requirements of farms for the production of milk are differ- 

 ent. The farms, to be profitable, must be larger, and, as 

 much of the manure needed for the crops is derived from the 

 stock, there is, of course, less to be transported from the 

 towns. 



But farmers remote from large towns have neither these 

 advantages of a market nor of manure, as the cost and time 

 required for transportation are too great in competition with 

 farmers in the vicinity of the towns. The greatest profit on 

 these farms is from the production of hay. This is their spe- 

 cialty. And these farms, for economy of management and for 

 profit, should be large. It is impossil)le for the farmer to 

 make a living from the production of hay on the number of 

 acres which would be sufficient for the farmer near to the 

 town. 



But hay cannot be produced without manure. The farmer 

 must return to the soil equivalents for what he takes from it 

 in his annual crops, if he would keep up its condition. 

 Every farmer knows that a large portion of the manure 

 applied under the old system was required for the raising of 

 the cereals, and that grass is not so exliausting to the soil as 

 corn. Consequently, if the growing of cereals shall be dis- 

 continued, and all the manure of the farm applied in the best 

 manner for the growing of grass, the amount grown will be 

 much larger. But this is not all. There is scarcely a farm 

 in New England upon which there are not beds of muck or 

 other dep(jsit, from which material ma}^ be taken, which, 

 incorporated with the manure of the barn-yard, will furnish a 

 large supply of fertilizing matter for the farm. When the 

 farmer learns that he is to look for profits to the surplus of 

 hay he produces, he will soon discover means of increasing 

 the fertility of liis fields without resorting to the uncertain 

 fertilizers of commerce. But the fields from which the hay 

 is produced are not the only lands which require the atten- 

 tion of the farmer. The condition of his pastures, in which 

 . he feeds his stock a considerable portion of the year, is of 

 great consequence. The pastures of New England, especially 

 those of this part of it, have sadly deteriorated. Most of 

 them will not support one-half the stock they did half a cen- 



