1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 193 



farm crops, except those of wheat, rye, oats and barley. To 

 persons wishing to do some farming, and at the same time 

 avoid the great difficulty of obtaining satisfactory labor at a 

 fair price, it offers agreeable employment and fair compen- 

 sation. In other words, if I am correct, a single man favor- 

 ably situated, with a good team and extra help in haying, 

 will manage one hundred acres of grass land, and have the 

 winter left for the disposal of his crop, and such other busi- 

 ness as may claim his attention. 



Stjmmary. 

 Such of you as may have visited the late ex-Alderman 

 Mecchi, on his farm at Tip Tree Hall, in Englan<i, or have 

 read his books, doubtless remember that he had reduced 

 some of his agricultural experiences to concise maxims. For 

 instance, he was wont to say : " Never use a man when you 

 can use a horse ; never use a horse when you can use a 

 steam engine ; for an iron horse don't cost half as much as a 

 flesh horse, and will last twice as long." Citing his example 

 as my apology, I beg leave, by way of recapitulation, to 

 condense some of the things I have just said into a few not 

 very elegant dogmatic sentences. I would gladly put them 

 into verse, as did old Thomas Tusser his "five hundred 

 points of good husbandry," but I cannot write as mean 

 doggerel as he did, nor, I am sorry to say, any better, so I 

 must give them to you in plain prose. 



1 . Raise grass on grass land ; for two tons can be as 

 easily raised on an acre of such land as one ton on an acre of 

 a dry and sandy nature. 



2. Never let your yield decline to a low point in quan- 

 tity ; for, by so doing, it will decline in quality as well, and 

 a double loss will result. 



3. When the grass plants of a field are no longer thick 

 and vigorous, plough, fertilize if necessary, and reseed it; 

 for a yield of hay is in near proportion to the number and 

 health of the plants producing it. 



4. Whenever the surface of a grass field has become im- 

 pervious to the rainfall, break up and reseed it ; for grass 

 won't grow without moisture, and moisture will not pene- 

 trate an impenetrable surface. 



