54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



dinner begins to rake and draw in, filling a bay holding sev- 

 eral tons each day. Mr. Johnson stated that the hay put up 

 in this way came out bright and sweet, and was of far more 

 value than if it had been exposed to the sun longer. I had 

 an opportunity to examine this hay in September, and found, 

 it substantially as Mr. Johnson stated. 



Mr. Frank Bowditch of the same town, a very successful 

 dairyman, and a close and careful observer, says that he 

 manages to feed his cows on early cut hay through the year, 

 and recognizes the same principle in curing it that we have 

 enunciated. 



One of the most important and costly lessons which my 

 experience has taught me relates to the changing of seed, or 

 of substituting new varieties of fruits or plants for old ones. 



"Be not the first by whom the new are tried, 

 Nor yet the last to lay the old aside," 



is not only good poetry, but good advice ; and, had I heed- 

 ed it, several serious blunders of my life would have been 

 avoided. Not but what new varieties are often superior to 

 the old, and should take their places ; yet the change should 

 be made with great caution and on a small scale. Many 

 new fruits originating west of the Hudson River, for instance, 

 and which do well in their native soil, are nearly worthless 

 when cultivated in Massachusetts ; and others which are 

 regarded with favor in the northern portions of this State 

 are of little value in Bristol County. Plants, as well as 

 domestic animals, before yielding their best results, must 

 first become acclimated : hence the well-recognized fact that 

 they always succeed best when the soil, culture, and climate 

 into which they are transplanted, corresponds most nearly 

 with that in which they had their origin. 



I am often asked to recommend some particular crop as a 

 specialty. To this I reply, Grow those crops which yield the 

 greatest net profit, — the crop which, all things considered, 

 has the most money in it. What that crop should be must 

 depend on the soil, climate, and market facilities ; and what 

 these are, no one is supposed to know better than the farmer 

 himself. There is not a particle of doubt but that many 

 crops which are grown in New England at a mere nominal 

 profit, year after year, might be superseded by others, with 



