The practical considerations which should govern the 

 farmer in his choice of crops are many, and vary with 

 the surroundings of each individual. Hay is, and must 

 continue to be, unquestionably, the leading crop for 

 all, except those engaged exclusively in market gar- 

 dening and horticulture. The small amount of labor 

 necessary to its production, our nearness to a market, 

 and, above all, the fact that only a small portion of oui' 

 cultivated land can be used at once in the production of 

 hoed crops, W'ithout expending more labor, manure and 

 capital than most of us can employ, combine td make 

 this crop the most important to an Essex County 

 farmer. It is safe to say that most farms should be 

 managed w'ith special reference to the production of 

 grass. And I mean by this, that the expenditure of 

 fertilizers and rotation of crops should always have ref- 

 erence to the crops of grass which are to follow. 



Some cultivate the same lot of ground year after 

 year with a succession of hoed crops, meanw^hile doing 

 little or nothing to their grass lands. If, instead of 

 this, the different parts of the farm should be successive- 

 ly cultivated, and then sowed with grass, the total in- 

 come would be greater. 



The census returns give the average yield of hay for 

 the State of Massachusetts at a trifle less than a ton per 

 acre. Perhaps the average for this County is somewhat 

 larger, but yet it is far below what the soil is capable of 

 producing. The culture of grass is as yet very im- 

 perfectly understood. The time and manner of sow- 

 ing, — the kind of seed and amount per acre, — the time 

 of cutting and mode of curing, — the effect of fall feed- 

 ing, — the most economical kind of top dressing, and the 

 time of applying it, are all disputed questions. Prob- 



