FARMS. 25 



The barn-cellar commends itself so powerfully that no new 

 barn is found without it ; and the farmer who sets himself 

 defiantly against it as a needless innovation upon old usages, 

 finds his neighbors going beyond him in all the elements of 

 prosperity. One man assured us that he could not be per- 

 suaded of its necessity, until he saw that those who had collars, 

 in a few years began to sell hay. The manure heap is a bank 

 that never refuses liberal discounts. 



We have seen in several places a new interest in raising 

 horses. This is a business that has not heretofore been much 

 practised in this county. But in almost every direction we 

 observe fine young horses, that will soon pay a handsome profit. 

 The late exhibition in Dedham, in connection with our annual 

 fair, showed the feeling that exists in reference to horses, and 

 has served to stimulate the efforts of our farmers in this 

 direction. 



It may also be observed, that, notwithstanding the objections 

 brought against fine, high-bred stock, on the score of expense 

 and want of .adaptation to our climate and soil, yet the number 

 of such cattle has largely increased during the past year. Not. 

 perhaps with the design of maintaining entire herds, so much 

 as the improvement of our native breed by judicious crossings. 

 But cattle require food ; and scarcely any subject presses more 

 closely upon our farmers than that of the summer keeping of their 

 stock. Many old pastures are abandoned to wood and bushes, 

 and others are grown over with moss. Farmers tell us that 

 they must reduce their stock, or improve their pastures, or find 

 a substitute for grass. Many are skeptical as to the expediency 

 of renovating a worn-out pasture, and others think that they 

 cannot afford the expense. Some experiments have been made, 

 probably in every town, which show that to l)reak up, manure, 

 and seed down old pastures, is as profitable an investment of 

 money as a farmer can make ; especially if he lives within a 

 milkman's route. It would be a benefit to the agricultural 

 community, if those who have done most and best in this line 

 would send the detail of their operations to the newspapers, or 

 incorporate them with the transactions of our society. 



We find but one opinion among farmers as to the profitable- 

 ness of corn-fodder, as a supplement to the pasture. It comes 



just when the pasture begins to fail, and furnishes a grateful and 

 4* 



