298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. • [Jan., 



farmers must look out for themselves. Send farmers to the legis- 

 lature if you would have farm-laws, for what do the lawyers and 

 demagogues care for us, so long as they can make their own laws 

 and profit by them? But these two things I want to warn all 

 farmers against, and one is, not to put all your fertilizers and 

 manure on the richest piece of land on the farm, and let all the 

 rest go hungry, for sooner or later the farm will go to the wall. 

 The meadows are beginning to show it now, and 'tis said, ^'famine 

 begins at the hay-mow." Another is, never allow a stock of 

 cattle to tread down, or gnaw down your meadows; stamping is 

 much worse than gnawing, and both are bad enough. 



If farmers of the present day would attend to their farms as 

 close as the olden time farmers did, and let everything else alone, 

 farming would be a much better business than it was then, in fact. 

 I think there never was a time except in war time, that farming 

 could be turned to so good advantage as at the present day. 

 There is a demand for everything that we can raise, and still 

 about one-half our farmers would sell their farms to-day if they 

 could, but there are few buyers except the foreign element, and 

 that is destined to own and control this country — not a very 

 bright picture. But there is one thing that will save us, and that 

 \% retrenchment ; go back as far as practicable to the well-trodden 

 paths of our worthy ancestors, " then shall we sit under our own 

 vine and fig-tree with none to molest, or make afraid." My 

 advice to one and all is, stick to your farms and be content. 



The Chairman. Mr. Norton kindly gave way this morning 

 to the discussion in regard to the Experiment Station. I 

 hope now he will favor us with the remainder of his address. 



Mr. Norton. I think, as I said at the close of the exer- 

 cises this morning, that I better not say anything more ; but 

 it is a subject in which very many are interested, and there 

 are probably many in the audience who would like to say 

 something upon it. I understood from Prof. Johnson that he 

 had some statements to make in regard to reports from abroad 

 with reference to deep and shallow setting of milk. They 

 will probably be of interest, and it is a part of the subject 

 upon which I was to speak. 



Prof. Johnson. The question of the best method of setting 



