68 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Tliis being settled, it becomes a question, What kind of stock 

 will be most profitable ? Doubtless different answers may be 

 given to this question with reference to particular farms, some 

 being specially adapted to one kind of stock and some to 

 another ; but on the higher and rougher lands, where the 

 herbage is comparatively thin and short, there can be no ques- 

 tion that sheep will do better than cattle or horses. Besides 

 sheep being better adapted to such situations on account of the 

 superior ease with which they can support themselves, they 

 better maintain the growth of grasses. In some parts of 

 Britain, particularly in Wales and Scotland, land has been 

 constantly grazed by sheep for more than a thousand years, 

 with no diminution of fertility or production, as is known from 

 tlie number of sheep kept from year to year. Of course, the 

 newness of our country does not admit of its furnishing any 

 such example as this ; but we have lands on which sheep have 

 been pastured ever since the forest was cut off, embracing in some 

 instances a period of nearly two hundred years. It is alleged, 

 I am aware, that sheep, in some instances, run out pastures, 

 and I do not deny the allegation ; but if a result so different 

 from that just alluded to does sometimes occur, it is proper to 

 ascertain the particular facts which bear on the case. What 

 these facts are it is impossible to tell without ocular examina- 

 tion. Different species of grasses differ in regard to their 

 }3ermanency on the same soil ; soils also differ in regard to their 

 support of grasses, and the duration of grasses is also greatly 

 influenced by climate and by the characteristics of seasons. 

 Moist soils, climates and seasons are more favorable to the life 

 of grasses than dry ones. The mode of feeding also has an 

 influence. Tolerably close feeding is probably favorable to 

 the permanence of the herbage as well as to its quality ; but 

 under the extreme droughts which sometimes occur in our 

 climate, sheep may feed pastures so closely as to injure the 

 grass. Much depends on the kinds of grasses as- to their 

 durability ; and on this point, and in reference to the adap- 

 tation of the species to particular soils, too little attention is 

 generally bestowed in this country. It is frequently the case 

 that the same species which are relied on for hay, are sown for 

 permanent pasture. Timothy, or Herds-grass, Plileum praiense; 

 and red-top, Agrostis vulgaris, — of two or three varieties, are 



