74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ducing- tlic greatest possible amount of manure at the least 

 possible cost. 



We have seen that it was the practice of the early settlers to 

 use their lands till they would no longer produce remunerative 

 crops, and then abandon them, to subject others to the same 

 process. This was what might have been expected, from any 

 people situated as they were. No account was made of manure. 

 The only object was to get rid of it. 



Much progress has, undoubtedly, been made by our farmers 

 in this department of agriculture. By many individuals the 

 subject has been carefully investigated, and far more manure is 

 made, and that of a better quality, than formerly. In every 

 part of the State, too, more care is taken to enclose the cattle 

 in summer, to cover the manure heap in winter, and to supply 

 the sty — the laboratory of the farm — with muck and loam. 

 But our lands require more manure than they did a century, or 

 even a half century ago, and progress in this direction has 

 hardly more than kept pace with onr increasing necessities. 

 We should not be content to keep our lands merely as good as 

 they were when they came into our possession. Every energetic 

 and enterprising farmer will be determined to increase the 

 value and productive power of his farm, as well as to draw an 

 annual income from it. But if our fields are to be thus improved, 

 and their cultivation is to be systematically carried on, much 

 more yet remains to be done in regard to the preparation and 

 use of manures. 



It may be well for us to look at the amount of the loss 

 occasioned by our carelessness and inattention in relation to 

 this matter. It is estimated that at least seventy-five per cent, 

 more manure might be made in the State than there now is, if 

 reasonable care were taken. In many localities there might be 

 an increase of one hundred per cent, without any difficulty, and 

 in a few it might be three or four times that amount. 



A few brief extracts from the many letters received by me 

 will serve to show the feeling in different sections of the Com- 

 monwealth, on this subject, and the degree of attention paid to 

 it. A correspondent in the western part of Worcester County, 

 says, that the manure in most common use there, is "barn 

 manure and compost, in about equal quantities, spread in spring 



