No. 4.] CATTLE FOODS. 53 



The Chairman. We should be very glad to hear from 

 Mr. Gold, the secretary of the Connecticut Board of Agri- 

 culture. I am sure he can give us some points on this sub- 

 ject. 



Secretary Gold. I have had very little experience in rais- 

 ing peas. As Governor Hoard recommended them so highly, 

 we sowed a small piece last spring, which we used very sat- 

 isfactorily for feeding our swine. We raised them for that 

 purpose, and did not have any to spare to use for dairy 

 cows ; but those who have used them in Connecticut, where 

 they have succeeded in raising them, — and they have to 

 some extent, — as a soiling crop or as dried and fed in that 

 shape, commend them very highly. But my memory goes 

 back to the time when peas were much more extensively 

 raised in this State and in the State of New York for feeding- 

 purposes, and they were very highly approved. If cut in 

 its early period of ripening, when the first pods were nearly 

 ripe and the stalks still green, the crop was considered the 

 best possible winter fodder for sheep and lambs in the sys- 

 tem of farming when sheep culture was a prominent feature. 

 But in raising peas we want to take into account one fact 

 that has been recently In'ought up, that all these legumi- 

 nous plants have the faculty of gathering nitrogen from the 

 atmosphere, and in raising them we are adding to the fertil- 

 ity of our farms. We must not confine ourselves merely to 

 the direct return from this pea crop, but add to it the less 

 perceptible but as surely inevitable result, that we are there- 

 by adding to the fertility of our farms. Please bear that in 

 mind in the purchase of your feeding materials, — that the 

 manurial value is to be taken into account. Please bear in 

 mind also that in the culture of your crops the manurial 

 value and efiect upon your farms themselves is an important 

 element to be taken into consideration, I believ'e that the 

 present drift of science will lead our farmers to adopt what 

 I believe to be a better system, in which the legumes will 

 form a more important article of our cattle foods. 



The Chairman. We should be very glad to hear from 

 Mr. Fenn, of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, if he will 

 favor us. 



Mr. Fenn (of Milford, Conn.). I have had no experience 



