190 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In no single crop does the great blue-grass State excel our 

 own in yield per acre ; and in only four crops out of the six 

 does Ohio excel us, while in the other two we excel her. 

 But it is when we compare the cash receipts per acre from 

 the sale of the crops in these three States that we realize the 

 advantage the INIassachusetts farmer may have on account of 

 his nearness to a good home market. Here we get $12 per 

 acre for our products against $8.G6 in Ohio and $0.30 in 

 Kentucky. 



The two principal crops that the dairy farmer here in 

 Massachusetts should raise are Indian corn and grass, each 

 to be liberally fed, both green and dry. Now, while the 

 western farmer may have the advantage of using more labor- 

 saving machinery in the cultivation and harvesting of his 

 small grains in a country so largely devoted to grain raising, 

 I cannot see where he has any such advantage in the cultiva- 

 tion of grass or the corn crop, for we can afford to use all 

 the labor-saving machines required for producing these crops 

 at the lowest cost. I can see no reason why each of these 

 crops cannot be produced as cheaply here as there if we will 

 do our work in the rii>:ht wav and at the riijht time. "\Ve 

 must feed out the fodder we raise, must make all the manure 

 we consistently can, and save and judiciously use all that we 

 make. We must cart this manure and spread it upon the 

 land at the seasons of the year when the work can be done 

 most economically. We must use good implements and give 

 thorough culture, and we must harvest both grain and fod- 

 der with the least amount of waste. There are other crops 



