142 THE TRUE TEST. 



land to a higher state of cultivation. A very success- 

 ful instance of this management occurs in the report of 

 the visiting committee of an agricultural society in 

 Massachusetts, in which they say : " We have now in 

 mind a farmer in this county who keeps seven or eight 

 cows in the stable through the summer, and feeds them 

 on green fodder, chiefly Indian-corn. We asked him 

 the reasons for it. His answer was : 1. That he gets 

 more milk than he can by any other method. 2. That 

 he gets more manure, especially liquid manure. 3. 

 That he saves it all, by keeping a supply of mould or 

 mud under the stable, to be taken out and renewed as 

 often as necessary. 4. That it is less troublesome than 

 to drive his cows to pasture ; that they are less vexed 

 by flies, and have equally good health. 5. That his 

 mowing-land is every year growing more productive, 

 without the expense of artificial manure. He estimates 

 that on an acre of good land twenty tons of green fod- 

 der may be raised. That which is dried is cut fine, and 

 mixed with meal or shorts, and fed with profit. He 

 believes that a reduced and partially worn-out farm — 

 supposing the land to be naturally good — could be 

 brought into prime order in five years, without extra 

 outlay of money for manure, by the use of green fod- 

 der in connection with the raising and keeping of pigs: 

 not fattening them, but selling at the age of four or five 

 months." He keeps most of his land in grass, improv 

 ing its quality and productiveness by means of top- 

 dressing, and putting money in bis pocket, — which is ; 

 after all, the true test both for theory and practice. 



Another practical case in hand on this point is that 

 of a gentleman in the same state, who had four cows, 

 but not a rod of land to pasture them on. They were, 

 therefore, never out of the barn, — or, at least, not 

 out of the yard, — and were fed with grass, regularly 



