63 



Now, it would occasion an American farmer some 

 wonderment to be told that this great herd of cattle 

 is fed and fatted almost entirely for the manure they 

 make/' (Genesee Farmer, 1864.) 



Can we do any better in this country ? 



The Hon. Geo. Geddes, of New York, says : u He 

 would keep no stock of any kind if he could help it. 

 He always lost money by them. You rear a steer 

 till he is a thousand days old, and in ordinary times 

 he is worth $40. You get four cents a day for your 

 time, labor and the food consumed. Will that pay ? 

 He keeps sheep to get rid of his straw and tread it 

 into manure." (Genesee Farmer, vol. 25.) 



With the highest deference and respect for his 

 opinion, I must say, that this is a very poor excuse 

 for keeping sheep. If he will send out all his straw 

 in the fall, which he does not need for bedding, and 

 have it spread on the field to be plowed for corn the 

 next spring, he will never afterwards complain, that 

 he can not get rid of his straw. 



John Johnston says : u Land must have a covering 

 of grass or clover while resting." 



How is it possible to have more straw than you can 

 profitably make use of, I cannot see. 



Some years ago, I raised 905 bushels of potatoes to 

 the acre, by planting the sets on plowed and mellow 

 ground, a foot apart, and covering them with straw 

 from 12 to 18 inches deep. I would always raise 

 potatoes in that manner, if I could spare the straw 

 to do it. 



And when your corn-fodder is hauled in, cover the 

 field where it grew with ten or even five loads of 



