HINDRANCES TO SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 109 



said that it was bad policy to feed mowing lands in the fall, 

 and you ask me if it is any worse than it is to mow closely? 



Mr. Slade. I Mould like to ask the gentleman if he has 

 got any hcrdsgrass that he wants to trade off for corn-fodder, 

 even? If he has, I will tell him where he can find a cus- 

 tomer. 



Mr. Grixnell. Exactly. Down your way your herds- 

 grass stood until it was dead ripe and was no more fit to eat 

 than so much straw. I see a few farmers here — I mean 

 7-eaZ farmers, not strawberry growers — and I believe there 

 are farmers who say that cornstalks, well kept, will make as 

 much milk as hay. 



My. Slade. I don't believe it. 



Mr. Grinnell. Prof. Sanborn says so. 



Mr. Slaue. I don't care what anybody says ; it is not 

 true. That doctrine has been preached in the State too long ; 

 it is incorrect. If science, so called, or some doctor of agri- 

 culture proclaims that, he proclaims what cannot be proved. 

 Corn-fodder is not worth two-thirds the value of well-cured 

 herdsgrass for milch cows. 



The Chairman. I would like to say in confirmation of 

 the position taken by Mr. Grinnell in regard to pasturing 

 meadows in the fall, that I know a farm in the south end of 

 this town that has kept up its fertility and continued to pro- 

 duce good crops for the past ten or a dozen years, and it has 

 not been pastured. The condition is such in regard to fenc- 

 ing it, that it cannot be used for that purpose, and that is 

 really the only reason why it has not been done. I suppose 

 that what he means by pasturing meadows in the fall is pas- 

 turing them at this time of year, and I presume that if you 

 should go out among these hills to-morrow, you would find 

 many places where the cattle are still running on the mow- 

 ings. That undoubtedly is the kind of fall pasturing which 

 the gentleman very sensibly protests against. 



Question. Was your meadow in the south part of the 

 town mowed a second time? 



The Chairman. Some of it. 



Mr. Russell. Will not the same rule hold in regard to 

 mowing the second crop Avith a mowing machine ? 



Mr. Grinnell. Undoubtedly it would, if mowed late in 



