No. 4.] CROP ROTATION. 95 



hay alone. I have studied farm conditions a good deal in the 

 last five years, and I believe the average dairy farm in New 

 England is depending too much on the hay crop. 1 find that 

 the successful dairy farmers are following a rotation plan very 

 much like the one described by Mr. Daniels. One thing is 

 })articularly striking, — when the percentage of land kept in 

 hay gets above 50, the number of cows that can be kept is 

 decreased. A great many people are applying manure in too 

 large quantities. They do not get around the farm often 

 enough. I find one result which illustrates what I mean very 

 well. With a rotation once in corn and once in wheat, an 

 application of 12 tons of manure to the acre gave a return of 

 $2.16 per ton, an application of 16 tons to the acre but $1.66 

 per ton, and an application of 20 tons to the acre but $1.44 

 per ton. The more they put on .the greater was the part 

 wasted, and the less they got back to a ton. By planting to 

 corn and manuring heavily, and then letting the land lie for a 

 long time without attention we have too much land in hay and 

 a great rush of work through haying, which results in some of 

 our hay being cut late. You will find that Mr. Daniels' hay 

 is cut at the right time, and is sweet and full of milk-making 

 qualities. When land is allowed to stay in hay and is not 

 broken up often enough, it suffers unduly from drought. We 

 are stripping the land of hay and putting nothing back. 



One thing we have to contend with here is the high price 

 of corn, and many of our farmers are meeting it by raising 

 their own grain. One man whose methods I have investi- 

 gated is making a profit of about $10 an acre on the peas and 

 oats he grows, and about $15 an acre on his corn. I do not 

 know what his yield of milk is, but I assume that he is making 

 a profit on that, as well as on his grain crops, and as he 

 should if he bought the grain. In that way he is getting two 

 profits, whereas the man who buys his raw material — and a 

 great many are buying too much of it — can make but 

 one profit, no matter how good his cows may be. Professor 

 Sanborn, one of the leading agriculturists of New England, 

 said that it is not so important how much milk or butter we 

 can produce per cow, as how much milk or butter we can pro- 

 duce per acre of New England land. 



