306 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



English hay were annually produced on lands which had 

 formerly been considered worthless. 



Fish could be had at the beach in large quantities at from 

 fifteen to twenty cents per barrel, and about the only thing 

 requisite to insure a crop, was to " fish the meadows." In 

 1860, this game played out. The discovery that a barrel offish 

 would make three gallons of oil, created a demand for them at 

 one dollar per barrel, a price which farmers thought it imprac- 

 ticable to pay. The result is that many of those meadows have 

 been abandoned as such, and are now used for pasture, while 

 others are still mowed, producing a light crop of inferior quality, 

 well mixed with brakes and bulrushes ; and a few of them by 

 frequent top-dressing retain their original productiveness. 



In point of economy, we have been unable to find a substitute 

 for fish. The loss of this cheap and important fertilizer, which 

 has entered more or less extensively, into the production of 

 almost every crop, during the last forty years, has led not only 

 to the extensive use of the various specific manures, but to a 

 more prudent husbandry of the resources within our reach, for 

 improving and enlarging the compost heap. 



The corn crop, as also the hay and potato crops, during the 

 last year have suffered severely from the ravages of the cut-worm. 

 Fields which in the early part of the season, promised an abun- 

 dant harvest, yielded but an indifferent crop. The potato crop 

 was far below the average, and suffered materially in appear- 

 ance from the contributions levied by this invading legion. 



The crop of hay, particularly in the northern part of the 

 county, succumbed to their blighting influence, and hundreds 

 of acres consequently had to be ploughed and reseeded. 



Market gardening is carried on quite extensively to meet the 

 increasing demand, and where the market is near, and the soil 

 is suitable, is very profitable business. 



The onion crop is yearly increasing in importance, it being- 

 one of the very few, of which there is a surplus raised in the 

 county. The crop of 1865, as shown by statistics, was 24,700 

 bushels, 10,500 of which was raised in the town of Somerset. 



The crop of French turnips was of excellent quality, and 

 exceedingly large, estimated by good judges to be double that 

 of last year, which would make the crop of this year something 

 over 200,000 bushels. Although it is generally believed that 



