11 



specialty. And these farms for economy of management and 

 for profit, should be large. It is impossible for the farmer to 

 make a living from the production of hay, on the number of 

 acres which would be sufficient for the farmer near to the town. 



But hay cannot be produced without manure. The farmer 

 must return to the soil equivalents for what he takes from it in 

 his annual crops, if he would keep up its condition. Every 

 farmer knows that a large portion of the manure applied under 

 the old system was required for the raising of the cereals, and 

 that grass is not so exhausting to the soil as corn. Conse- 

 quently, if the growing of cereals shall be discontinued, and 

 all the manure of the farm applied in the best manner for the 

 growing of grass, the amount grown will be much larger. But 

 this is not all. There is scarcely a farm in New England upon 

 which there are not beds of muck or other deposite, from which 

 material may be taken, which, incorporated with the manure of 

 the barn-yard, will furnish a large supply of fertilizing matter 

 for the farm. When the farmer learns that he is to look for 

 profits to the surplus of hay he produces, he will soon discover 

 means of increasing the fertility of his fields without resorting 

 to the uncertain fertilizers of commerce. But the fields from 

 which the hay is produced are not the only lands which require 

 the attention of the farmer. The condition of his pastures, in 

 whicli he feeds his stock a considerable portion of the year, is 

 of great consequence. The pastures of New England, espec- 

 ially those of this part of it, have sadly deteriorated. Most of 

 them will not support one half the stock they did half a 

 century ago. How far they can be economically improved, it 

 is impossible to predict. But all can be improved. Where 

 the pastures consist of good and clear land, they may be culti- 

 vated and manured for a few years, and the stock in the mean 

 time turned into the poorer fields, and thus the pastures be 

 fully renovated. Where this is not practicable, they may be 

 much improved for years by a single ploughing and seeding 

 down, even without the application of manures. Any stirring 

 up of their soils will prove l^eneficial. 



These are a few of the suggestions which occur in reference 



