preceded me, by entering upon a disquisition upon the best 

 modes of farming ; the best crops to raise, and how to raise 

 them ; the best cattle to keep, and how to keep them. I think 

 it is well to recognize the fact that the farmers of Essex county 

 know something about their business already, and that the 

 manner in which prosperous agriculture has been thus far con- 

 ducted by themselves and their fathers indicates a degree of 

 knowledge which is entitled to respect and consideration. I 

 do not recognize the necessity of teaching a farmer who has 

 been successful with his dairy, and has known a good cow 

 from a bad one, the best cattle for his farm. I have no desire 

 to prove to the prosperous growers of vegetables here that they 

 ought to turn their attention to raising corn, in this latitude of 

 short and doubtful seasons ; and that they can raise it for thirty 

 cents a bushel, regardless of the value of the land on which it 

 is raised, the cost of manure used in raising, and the expense 

 of the labor employed in managing the land and the crop. I 

 should be very reluctant to impress upon the practical farmers 

 of this county, who have learned by their own experience and 

 that of their fathers, that herdgrass, red-top and clover are the 

 three staple grasses for conversion into hay ; the best for feed- 

 ing ; the best for protecting each other ; the best for curing 

 into the most nutritious and marketable hay — I should be very 

 reluctant, I say, to impress upon them that they had better 

 abandon these well-known and well-proved varieties, and resort 

 to unknown and untried varieties, not one of which has yet 

 been adopted as a foundation for the hay crop. 



I should hesitate about endeavoring to prove to you that a 

 clover crop is a better fertilizer than barnyard manure, on 

 which you have been in the habit of relying. I have no desire 

 to tell the farmers of this county, who have been all their lives 



