ASA T. NEWHALL'S ADDRESS. 361 



which will increase and soon rim out a pasture, if left to the 

 occupancy of the cow and horse, without the intervention of 

 sheep or the plough. I am confident that sheep, equal to half 

 the number of cows, may be kept in the same pastures without 

 detriment to the cows, by letting the sheep follow the cows 

 from pasture to pasture ; and there is no mode which has been 

 recommended for exterminating wood waxen and other nox- 

 ious weeds, that destroy all valuable growth of vegetation, that 

 can be adopted for this purpose, attended with so little expense, 

 or perhaps I may say with any profit, as that of feeding with 

 sheep. If the surface is cleared by mowing or burning, or both, 

 and fully pastured with sheep, and if so highly stocked as to 

 require some extra feed, the better. In three years the land 

 will be entirely cleared, the soil enriched and fit for the plough, 

 where it is not too rocky, and where it is, it will make good 

 dairy pastures. A very considerable portion of these lands, in 

 this part of our county, have been permitted, and in some in- 

 stances encouraged, to grow over to wood, which, owing to the 

 rocks and roughness of the surface being unfit for cultivation, 

 is probably for the interest of the owners, and certainly no det- 

 riment to the public. 



Our pastures might be very much improved, undoubtedly, by 

 planting forest trees upon them of different kinds, according to 

 the nature of the soil. 



On our dry, gravelly and sandy soils the locust thrives well ; 

 and as they absorb the dew that falls upon them, they do not 

 decrease, but rather increase the moisture of the soil, and the 

 dropping of the foliage, especially the blossoms, which are very 

 rich, greatly increases the fertility of the land. A plantation 

 of these trees upon any of our dry pasture lands of twelve or 

 fifteen years growth, will more than double the feed, and in 

 the course of thirty years the timber and wood will be worth 

 at least one hundred dollars per acre. In making this assertion 

 I speak advisedly, and am ready to prove the facts, by a grove 

 I have raised from the seed, and planted out within that time. 

 The grass that grows under the locust is very sweet, and read- 

 ily eaten by cows or horses. 



The expense of raising a nursery of these trees is trifling ; 



