108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



soil would improve the mechanical condition of the soil and 

 be a permanent benefit. 



Mr. . We are told that no good farmer will turn 



his cattle upon a mowing field. When a man has twenty 

 cows and his summer pasture fails, and there are two months 

 or six weeks between that time and winter, what is he o-oino- 

 to do with his cattle ? 



Mr. Grinnell. If he has twenty cattle, he ought to put 

 in about eight acres of drilled corn. If he cannot put in 

 that much, let him put in less. Then if he has a piece of 

 land which he wants to seed down, let him plough it and sow 

 barley in July. He can mow that until November, or al- 

 most until this time. Barley will stand a good deal of frost. 

 He can cut that and use it to supplement his summer feed. 

 The prudent thing for every farmer to do is to drill in some 

 fodder corn, — " sowed corn," as we call it. It cannot come 

 amiss. If you do not want to eke out your pastures, there 

 is nothing better that you can cut up, dry, and put into 

 your barn. If in good condition, it is better than herds- 

 grass for cows. 



Question. What is your opinion of ensilage ? 



Mr. Grixnell. I have no opinion to give at present. 



Mr. Sessions. I would like to have the essayist tell us 

 w^hy it is any worse to have cows eat the second crop of 

 grass in our mowings than to mow it with the mowing ma- 

 chine ? 



Mr. Grinnell. The first reason is that cows o-naw a 

 great deal closer than the mowing machine cuts. Another 

 reason is, that if a man puts his cows into a mowing field he 

 wants to keep them there until they have eaten the last 

 morsel. He will turn them out and let them stay there after 

 the ground is frozen, when they ought to be in the barn. 



Mr. Sessions. There is reason in all things. ^Vhy con- 

 demn a thing m to(o because it may be carried too far? 



Mr. Grinnell. To go into a comparison of the mowing 

 machine with a cow's teeth, I think myself that we mow too 

 close. I think that one reason why it is so difficult for us to 

 keep our herdsgrass-ground seeded is that we cut our grass 

 with mowing ma<;hines closer than the scythe did. I only 



