165 



grass to thicken at bottom, would not be obtained, in many ca- 

 ses, on the Deerfield and other aUuvial meadows at one cutting 

 as is now obtained at two ; or if not, whether the abatement of 

 labor in cutting but once instead of twice, and the superior ease 

 in making the hay when fully ripe rather than in an unripe con- 

 dition, would not be more than an equivalent for the smaller 

 amount of crop. It is said that cattle prefer early to late-cut 

 hay, and that their taste is the best criterion of its nutritiveness. 

 I am not quite disposed to admit either of these positions. Taste 

 is with all animals very much a matter of habit and cultivation. 

 Instinct is not always an infallible guide, or we should never 

 find sheep nibbling laurel,* nor cows killing themselves by brows- 

 ing the wild cherry,! nor children poisoned in eating hemlock.."]: 

 I know that some men insist with great pertinacity that nature 

 is always a safe guide in all these matters. If so, we might go 

 back to the practice of Bruce's Arabs, and cut and eat our steaks 

 out of the cow as we drive her along. If so indeed, matters in 

 civilized life have come to a strange pass, and the human ani- 

 mal at some of our city tables and our French restaurants 

 must be sadly in error. 



William Pomeroy, of Northfield, to whose authority in this 

 case I should yield as much deference as to that of any man in 

 the county, is in the habit of not topping the stalks of his In- 

 dian corn, nor of cutting the plant at all until he has gathered 

 the ears. He leaves every thing until the corn is fully ripe ; 

 he then gathers the ears, sometimes husking them on the stalk 

 and sometimes carrying them into the barn. He then cuts up 

 the stalks at the bottom, which are then in a condition to be 

 put away, and immediately bundles and houses them. His 

 cattle eat them well and do well upon them. He prefers this 

 management to any other mode. Many farmers say that their 

 cows show as good thrift and yield as much milk when fed 

 upon the leaves and husks of the corn-butts, which are of 

 course dried late in the field, as when fed with the top-stalks 

 cut early, and saved in a green and bright condition. 



* Kalmia angustifolia. f Prunus Virg:miana. % Conium maculatum. 



