best feeders ; but though no evil may come from giving such 

 hay to cattle soon to pass into the hands of the butcher, yet in 

 the condition in which it is often given to fatting cattle, it 

 would be quite pernicious to horses. There is reason to be- 

 lieve, that hay is generally too much dried ; and with some 

 farmers, the practice of curing it in the cock is much approved. 

 In this case, the hay being perfectly dry from any external wet, 

 after being slightly wilted in the sun, is made up into cocks. 

 The second day these cocks are opened and afterwards doubled. 

 In good weather it will soon become sufficiently cured to be 

 carried safely into the barn. In bad weather it is in a great 

 degree secure from the effects of rain, if the cocks are made 

 up with care. In this way, the hay is never so much dried as 

 to be broken ; nor are the leaves and seeds, as in the common 

 way of making hay by tossing it about a great deal, scattered 

 and lost. Two of the best farmers in the county, residing in 

 Bernardston, are of opinion, that herds-grass should not be cut 

 until it is ripe, and the seed perfectly formed. They speak 

 with confidence in this matter from having made many experi- 

 ments in the fatting of cattle. They are persons, whose word 

 is above question and whose judgment is entitled to great res- 

 pect. 



2. Indian Corn. {Zea Mays.) The next considerable crop 

 cultivated in this county is Indian corn. The hill-towns grow 

 comparatively little. It makes a large product on the aUuvial 

 lands of the Deerfield and Connecticut. The largest amount 

 I have known raised in one year by one individual has been 

 fourteen hundred bushels ; but many farmers produce from 

 three hundred to one thousand bushels. The judgment of 

 some of the most intelligent farmers in Deerfield places the av- 

 erage yield at thirty-five bushels to the acre, which seems to 

 be underrated. I have known upwards of ninety bushels grown 

 on an acre in Deerfield meadows ; an average yield of more 

 than seventy bushels on several acres in Northfield ; and other 

 abundant crops, which show at least what might be obtained 

 by good cultivation ; and likewise how much more profitable 

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