viii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



as the summer. The Massachusetts farmer must prepare to 

 meet it, and so plan his operations as even to turn it to his 

 account. 



Drouth is met by the market gardener with methods ot 

 irrigation. He drives wells in the light soils that he pre- 

 fers, and with wind-mills or steam-engines supplies himself 

 with moisture at will ; or he forces water from distant 

 springs, ponds or rivers, and makes himself independent of 

 weather. 



Some of the large gardeners near Boston use both wind 

 and steam, pumping water continuously. Our field crops 

 cannot be cultivated in this way. Grass must have the 

 early rains, and tilled crops demand the later rains ; but 

 the best husbandry is in the bountiful application of manure, 

 for rains alone do not make our crops, nor, if we thoroughly 

 enrich our soil, will drouth destroy them. As the quantity 

 of manure. is limited, it follows that it must be concentrated 

 upon fewer acres. We spread over too much land ; the 

 plough is idle ; our mowings are left year after year until 

 grasses are choked out by weeds, and we have the damaging 

 record of gathering less than a ton of hay to the acre. 



The discussions upon the subject of ensilage, three years 

 ao^o, were of infinite value in convincing us of the real value 

 of corn-stover. 



In attempting to make great weight of corn-fodder farmers 

 m;ide the discovery of the actual power of an acre upon 

 which manure and labor are applied in generous measure ; 

 they also found the true value of sun-dried corn-stover on 

 which the grain has been ripened. There are now but few 

 herds in the State that are not largely supported upon corn- 

 stover. In time light machinery will be made to shred it 

 and increase the economy of its use. 



The tax assessors report an increase of 2,102 horses; a 

 decrease of 3,794 cows, and a decrease of 2,620 sheep. 

 There were 1(59,879 cows and 02,780 sheep. 



The decrease in the number of cows ma}'^ be attributed, in 

 large part, to the bad condition of the business of supplying 

 milk to Boston. The distribution of the milk is entirely 

 in the hands of men called " contractors," who, at the open- 

 ing of each season, make a price at which they will take 



