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■and fattening domestic animals, has become extremely 

 5ipparent. Much attention is bestowed on the subject, 

 and many experiments have been made in their cultivation. 

 It is not yet decided which of the coui'ses pursued merit 

 41 preference. We should be gratified in seeing an exhib- 

 it of the most approved tillage of potatoes in Berkshire. 



The past year having been distinguished for deficiency 

 in forage and materials for the sustcnimce of animals, the 

 ingenuity of man has been prompt in providing substi- 

 tutes. The invention of machines for preparing their 

 food, on a most saving economical plan, has arrested gen- 

 eral attention. Hie discovery was not peculiarly original 

 in this country. The invention had obtained confidence 

 jn Great-Britain in 1812, where similar privations origi- 

 nated the idea of rendering forage more useful \jy redu- 

 cing it to chaff. The machines for executing this im- 

 provement, are of An^erican origin. The ijitroductiorr 

 of machines, of various structure, for reducing hay, straw 

 and cornstocks to chaff, has formed an ei;a in the manage- 

 ment of our domestic animals, when confined to forage. 

 The improvement is of inestimable v^lue in this climate, 

 and will prove a security against deficiences produced by 

 the vicissitudes of the seasons. The economy of this 

 measure may be fairly estimated as a saving of more than 

 one third of the eKpence of forage. 



Permit me, gentlemen, to recommend these machines 

 to your attention aiid patronage ; and maj^ your example 

 he decisive of their geneml use. Allow me, also, to re- 

 commend steam in preparing potatoes for your animals ; 

 and that you grind or steanj all grain which 3 ou intejid for 

 like use. 



The advantages of arable, over pasture groundes, have, 

 in every age and country, attracted pointed attention, and 

 considered as the grand resource on which Jiipid popula- 

 rion and mujtinlied nipuis of commerige might be cxpc^iT 



