1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



227 



TENTH LEGISLATIVE AQBICULTURAL 



MEETING. 



[Reported bt John C. Moore, fob the N. E. Farmer.) 



The tenth of the series of Legislative Agricul- 

 tural Meetings was held in the Hall of Repre- 

 sentatives, on Monday evening last. The atten- 

 dance was moderate. The subject for discussion 

 was, "The culture and cure of the hay crop." 



Hon. John W. Proctor, of Danvers, occu- 

 pied the chair ; and in introducing the discus- 

 sion, said in substance, that although he could 

 not go into the statistics of the value of hay, as 

 compared with other crops, it was, nevertheless, 

 one of the most important crops grown in the 

 State. He would speak from his own practice ; 

 and what he would say relative to the manage- 

 ment of hay should pi'oceed from that source, 

 and would apply to all kinds of hay. In olden 

 times the hay seed was generally sown with the 

 oats or wheat in the spring ; but latterly, it was 

 customary to plow and sow the seed in August, 

 and the practice would become more common as 

 its benefits were realized. This method pro- 

 duced from one and a half to two tons per acre. 

 One friend who mowed seventy-five aci'es had an 

 average of one and a half tons per acre. Some 

 of the farmers on Marblehead shore have brought 

 over 100 tons per annum to the Boston market. 

 The annual produce of the old Alley farm was 

 two tons per acre. This was produced by the 

 use of sea-weed as a top dressing, after the sum- 

 mer crop was removed. 



Mowing. — The method of cutting hay with the 

 scythe was fast dying out, and machine labor be- 

 ing introduced. Several machines — among them 

 Allen's, Ketchum's, Manny's and Russell's, — 

 were approved, although none of them were per- 

 fect. The best were Allen's and Ketchum's. By 

 the use of the former, in July and August, one 

 gentleman cut 300 acres, producing 500 tons, at 

 the rate of 50 minutes per acre. In some in- 

 stances he cut an acre in 30 minutes. Mr. P. saw 

 an acre cut in 40 minutes, and a skilful man, with 

 a pair of horses of 1000 lbs. weight each, would 

 cut at least, 10 or 12 acres a day. This being 

 the case, the importance of encouraging the im- 

 provement of these machines was obvious. The 

 Massachusetts Board of Agriculture had awarded 

 $1000, which had been given to the Eagle or 

 Heath Mower made by Mr. Nourse, of this city, 

 and which machine was worthy the award. On 

 level land it worked well, but was not, probably, 

 fitted for uneven, rocky land. Allen's machine 

 was better adapted to uneven surfaces; and 

 mowed an acre of that in an hour. But proba- 

 bly machines were not properly adapted to hay 

 cutting in such land — although, if they could be, 

 the advantage would be very great indeed. 



Making. — After being cut, the hay, instead of 



being manipulated by hand power, stirring is 

 now advantageously done by a hay-tedder, oper- 

 ated by horse-power, one of which was shown by 

 Dr. Loring, of Salem, at the last Essex County 

 Exhibition, and several others have been tried 

 in other parts of the State. But still the princi- 

 ple of this machine was defective, and much 

 room for improvement existed. With the rake, 

 properly used, by horse-power, we had s.ll the 

 machinery of working hay in as perfect order as 

 the power of modern invention could make them, 

 and by its use one-half of what has heretofore 

 been the labor of haymaking can be saved. 

 Some people turn up their noses at the mention 

 of machines for making hay, contenting them- 

 selves with their old-fashioned implements. 

 Such persons, if they wanted a shirt, would not 

 surely carry out their theory in that respect, and 

 refuse to buy and wear one which was not spun 

 and woven in the old-fashioned way. There 

 would be about as much consistency in the one 

 objection as in the other ; for it is well known 

 that 500 yards of cloth can as easily be made in 

 an hour, by machinery, as five yards could be by 

 the old family processes. Leaving the matter of 

 sowing, managing 'and curing hay to other gen- 

 tlemen, the president took his seat. 



Mr. B. V. French was called on to speak, and 

 directed the attention to the fact that there were 

 too many fresh- water meadows in the State, 

 which were unhealthy in summer, and unproduc- 

 tive of healthy food for cattle. Draining of such 

 swamps, and their proper management thereaf- 

 ter, would result in great comparative profit — 

 were it simply on account of the killing of the 

 tough aquatic grasses. Mr. F. quoted the opin- 

 ion of Prof. James W. F. Johnston, of Edin- 

 burgh, that, of all our crops, the hay ci'op was 

 the worst treated with us. The preparation of 

 our lands was not calculated to produce well, and 

 little attention was given to manuring, so that no 

 crop of value could be produced. At considera- 

 ble length, and with great minuteness of detail, 

 Mr. French went into a disquisition on the 

 modes by which these evils could be corrected, 

 and the quantity and quality of grass and hay 

 would be greatly improved. Pastures, in partic- 

 ular, were not so good as they ought to be, and 

 this was a subject for improvement which should 

 not be lost sight of. The proper selection of 

 grasses was also a subject of importance. Sweet 

 vernal grass was recommended as being one of 

 the best for butter-producing purposes. 



Mr. JosiAH QuiNCY, Jr., wished to know 

 from the experience of gentlemen what is the best 

 method of top-dressing grass lands ? His plan 

 was to keep cattle during winter, mix their ma- 

 nure with swamp muck, and dress and plow the 

 land in autumn, as had been recommended by 



