EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL FARMER. 3 



milch cows, and they make two hundred and fifty pounds of 

 beet-roots equal to one hundred pounds of hay. According to 

 this estimate, the above crop of mangolds would equal in value 

 nearly thirty tons of hay ; or supposing the chemists' estimate 

 to be only half right, the root-crop would then equal fifteen 

 tons of hay per acre. It has been ascertained, by actual exper- 

 iment that breeding-swine can be kept upon raw mangolds 

 alone from October to May in good thrifty condition. Can any 

 one doubt, with such facts, the great advantage of growing this 

 and other root-crops ? 



Various breeds of foreign cattle have also been thoroughly 

 tested ; and in my opinion the Ayrshire stock has proved the 

 best adapted to our pastures, and, for milking qualities, heads 

 the list. Doubtless there are some specimens among our native 

 stock as good as the best of any foreign breed for milk, but the 

 native breed cannot be so generally relied upon ; therefore the 

 thanks of the farmers of Essex are due to the Massachusetts 

 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, and to some private 

 individuals, for the introduction of that superior breed of cattle. 



I think any close observer of the cattle-pens at our exhibitions 

 for the last twenty years will have noticed this fact : that any 

 breed, of whatever size, will, within two or three generations, 

 become adapted in size and form to the locality and pastures in 

 which it is placed, although retaining more or less of its own 

 peculiar marks and qualities. Hence the economy of introduc- 

 ing such breeds as correspond pretty nearly in size with our 

 native cattle. 



Although two years in succession of severe drought, which 

 occurred four or five years ago, so weakened the fruit-buds of 

 the apple-trees as nearly to destroy the crop of fruit, and the 

 canker-worm, with other insects, has since committed such rav- 

 ages upon our orchards as to make the cultivation of the apple 

 rather discouraging, yet let us take heart. By the use of 

 printer's ink and tarred paper from November 1 to April 1, at a 

 cost of from five to eight cents per tree, our orchards can be 

 perfectly protected from the canker-worm ; and by securing the 

 small birds from the depredation of their natural enemies, idle 

 boys, cats and crows, and with good cultivation, I feel sure that 

 we may again be blessed with abundant crops of that beautiful, 

 delicious and health-giving fruit. Thus we shall be enabled to 



