12 MR. colman's address. 



which undergo a complete process of fermentation in the cattle 

 yard or upon the .surface of the ground, lose from 30 to 60 per 

 cent of their fertilizing properties, and if properly spread and 

 buried under the soil that this loss is prevented and that a 

 decomposition does immediately take place even of dry straw 

 sufficient to answer valuable purposes to the first crop." " Ex- 

 periments show," says Mr. Young, " that every atom of 

 vegetable matter in the soil begins to be decomposed immedi- 

 ately and to want no previous fermentation to enable it to feed 

 plants." The application of fresh stable manures cannot 

 properly be made to crops of small grain because they tend to 

 increase too much the haulm or stalks of the plant and expose 

 it to rot and mildew ; and because the seeds of weeds will in 

 this way be carried into the fields ; but such manures may be 

 most properly applied to hoed crops and in a sufficient quantity 

 to prepare the ground without further applications for a crop of 

 small grain. 



II. The second great topic to which I ask your attention is 

 the consumption of the produce upon the farm. This should 

 be the object of every farmer. He should produce as much as 

 he can and he should strive so to use up his produce upon his 

 place as to have the means of increasing its productiveness. — 

 This suggests two topics of inquiry ; the kind of crops to be 

 raised and the mode of applying them. 



1. English Hay is considered among us as the great crop. 

 The average yield cannot be rated at more than one ton and a 

 half to the acre ; a ton in the opinion of many farmers would be 

 a more accurate estimate. This, at the prices which it has 

 borne for several years past, can hardly be considered a valuable 

 crop. It is the crop on which most of our faraiers in the neigh- 

 borhood of large towns depend for obtaining ready money. But 

 the sale of hay fi*om a farm is subject to serious abatements. — 

 For every ton of hay sold from the farm, in order to preserve 

 its fertility the farmer should return a cord of manure. This 

 delivered at the farm cannot be rated at less than two dollars. 

 To this you are to add the expense of marketing the hay, which 

 in any situation is at least a dollar. A ton of hay then con- 



