28 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



in planting a crop of pine or other timber upon it that will, in 

 time, bring up its value, and consequently the value of the farm. 



Having abandoned our pasture, of course the next thing 

 was to plan for something to take its place. To do this, and to 

 facilitate the renovation of the farm, a five year rotation, with 

 one year in pasture, was arranged. This rotation was, and has 

 remained, as follows : Pasture, hoed crops, oats, land seeded to 

 grass and clover, two years in grass. By this plan, the farm has 

 had seven acres in pasture ; seven acres in hoed crops, a portion 

 of which were used for soiling, a portion for the silo, seven acres 

 in oats, and fourteen acres in grass. 



The portions of the hoed crops used for soiling have been 

 as near the pasture as possible, mostly being fed there instead of 

 being drawn to the barn, making a great saving of labor. 



Under the former management of the farm, it took practi- 

 cally ten years to get across the field with the plow, the manure 

 was put on a small area each year, and there was but little tillage 

 with the plow or other implements. Under the new system the 

 manure was put over double the area each year, by the use of a 

 spreader. The land was plowed deeper and better, tillage imple- 

 ments were used oftener and more thoroughly. The gain in 

 available fertility was rapid from the start. It came through 

 several sources. First, the manure being spread over a larger 

 area, and thoroughly fined by the spreader, gave quicker returns. 

 Ten cords of manure per acre, applied once in five years, has 

 proved to give at least twenty-five per cent, more net returns, 

 than twenty cords applied once in ten years. The manure has 

 been mixed with the soil by plowing a rolling furrow, and by 

 cutting the soil deeply and finely, with disc, spring tooth and 

 Acme. 



Then next in importance, has come the more frequent and 

 thorough plowing. I believe the plow is destined to play a very 

 important part in the revival of New England agriculture. At 

 present, we have too much land in old grass fields. 



Our land has been plowed twice in each rotation, the old 

 ground being plowed a little deeper than the land was broken, 

 thereby turning up all the organic matter and deepening the soil 

 slightly in each rotation. 



The pasture helped much in adding fertility, the cows run- 

 ning practically all the time, in summer, on the land to be broken 

 for hoed crops, the next season. The whole pasture area is fed 

 over, leaving no waste places for the accumulation of weeds, 

 and the manure from the soiling crops is evenly distributed 

 by running a brush harrow over the pasture after a rain. By the 

 larger area under the plow, the growing of corn, and the use of 



