444 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



tional cords of manure to the acre would have secured in al- 

 most every case quite a full average crop thoughout this coun- 

 ty. The difference of expense and the difference of result in 

 the two cases is a good profit in the one and a considerable 

 loss in the other. Our farms are too small for expensive 

 works of irrigation ; and we must rely, therefore, principally 

 upon our manure heap to guard against the ill effects of 

 drought. It serves us here as a balance wheel in agriculture, 

 warming and invigorating the soil when suffering from too 

 much humidity and cold, and tempering the heat and attracting 

 moisture when the soil becomes from natural causes too dry.* 



The great diminution of sheep husbandry in this State is 

 very much to be deplored ; it is a striking indication of dete- 

 rioration and decay in our agriculture, unless we find that 

 something more profitable has taken its place. We shall look, 

 however, in vain for any thing of the kind ; every sheep, there- 

 fore, lost from the census of 1850, as compared with that of 

 1840, is a dead loss to the agricultural wealth of the State. 

 Sheep are among the most active and profitable agents in the 

 work of amelioration and farm improvement. Valuable as fer- 

 tilizers when folded, they likewise improve and renovate pas- 

 ture lands, brought as ours have been by neglect to a state 

 bordering upon entire non-productiveness. 



Two objections are commonly made to keeping sheep : one is, 

 that they are difficult of restraint; and the other, that they are 

 very liable to be worried and destroyed by dogs. With regard 

 to the first objection, it may be said that there are breeds of 

 sheep so docile and quiet that they only require the usual 



* The following table gives the relative value of certain manures, and the proper 

 quantity of each that should be applied per acre on medium soils for the growth 

 of maize and roots : — 



Farm-yard manure, - 20 tons - per acre. 



Night "soil, ... 10 " - " 



Crushed bonea, - - 7 cwt. - " 



Woollen rags, - - 12 " - " 



Guano, - - - - 3 to 4 " - " 



Nitrate of soda, - - 1 to :} " with half the weight of salt. 



Lime, - - - - l '. tons per acre, 



If every farmer would prepare a table of this kind, adding to it those fertilizers 

 which his experience bad proved to be equivalent to a given amount of barn-yard 

 manure, the information to be gained from the imbodiment of it in one report 

 would he very valuable. 



