86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Value of all the cheese made, .... 8502,590 00 

 One-half of the butter, (having deducted the 



value of cheese,) 057,753 00 



Total products of pastures, (not including oxen 



and horses,) $2,181,003 00 



If these figures are correct they will justify all we have 

 claimed as to the importance of pasture-lands. 



The mode of treatment of wood-lands is subject to criticism 

 as a waste, and is of very great importance to the farmers of 

 the State. 



It was the prevailing opinion forty years ago, that wood was 

 fast disappearing, and that within fifty years the country would 

 be almost denuded of its woody covering, and that the article 

 would become of great scarcity and value. 



At that time the practice was universal to thin out the wood 

 lots, by cutting here and there a tree as they appeared super- 

 abundant, or began to decay. Wood so thinned out rarely 

 sprouts out again, or if it does, is likely to be broken down by 

 the subsequent fall of trees, and thus our timber lands would 

 be gradually disappearing, and no young wood lots growing up 

 to fill the vacancy. 



But a change of policy, has produced a change of prospect 

 with regard to wood. 



The practice of cutting clean as one goes, or clearing the 

 land of timber at once, and making way for a new growth to 

 spring up, has demonstrated the fact that we have nothing to 

 fear as to a further supply of wood. 



Tlie subject of planting wood has been a question of discus- 

 sion among agriculturists, and in some localities it may be 

 worthy of attention, but at present it cannot be said to be a 

 matter of general interest. 



But the proper management of young wood lots is worthy of 

 attention. 



"When a lot of timber land is to be cleared, if the wood is not 

 too old, and tlie land is adapted or natural to wood, a growth 

 will spring up, exceeding perhaps ten or twenty times the num- 

 ber of trees that can naturally grow to much size on the ground. 

 Some individuals in view of this fact have taken an early 



