142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



be regarded as the exception ratlier than the rule ; and yet I 

 do not hesitate to say, that, in my opinion, money judiciously 

 laid out in improving permanent grass-land will make a better 

 return than money laid out on our arable land that is kept 

 under rotation. 



The production of meat, to be sure, is not the specialty of 

 this State, and it probably never will be ; but it is one of 

 the important incidents to every well-managed stock or dairy 

 farm ; and economy of production both of meat and milk in- 

 volves the improvement of pasture-lands to an extent which 

 will enable them to meet the demand made upon them for a 

 greatly increased supply. 



Our pasture-soils differ greatly in quality. Many of them 

 are rocky, thin, and ill adapted to grass naturally ; but with 

 most of them there is hope of improvement, except in sections 

 where they consist of light sand or gravel. To try to im- 

 prove a pasture of light sand is about as hopeless and cease- 

 less an operation as we can ever undertake, unless we can 

 prepare a compost of strong, stiff loam, road-scrapings, &c., 

 to correct the natural deficiencies of the soil. 



Stronger soils are more promising ; and, as a general rule, 

 it is wiser to leave the stronger soils in grass, and to use the 

 lighter for the plough and for tillage. 



It is to be regretted that sheep-husbandry has come into 

 such disrepute in this State. I believe it would be for our 

 interest to resort to it to improve our pastures, if for nothing 

 else. I had an old pasture, eight or ten years ago, which had 

 been worn out by being fed by dairy cows time out of mind. 

 Bushes and briers had come in ; huckleberry-bushes, alders, 

 mosses, and every sort of botanical specimen, abundant enough 

 to delight the heart of a botanist. It was one of the worst 

 pastures, in that respect, that I ever saw. It was so rough 

 and rocky, that I could not get a plough through it ; and the 

 question was what should be done with it. There were about 

 thirteen acres in this piece. I cut the bushes, and put in 

 more than a hundred sheej), — a great many more than the 

 pasture could possibly carry. I did not expect them to live 

 on bushes, and knew they would not if I did. It was neces- 

 sary to give them something to keep them quiet and con- 

 tented, or they would be jumping over the stone wall. So 

 I bought a lot of cotton-seed-meal, paying thirty-five or 



