24 



fi'oiu the barn yard to the pastures. As the principal crop sold from 

 the farm is butter, and as it is desirable to obtain as large a quan- 

 tity as possible, it is my aim to make the land produce tlie largest 

 practicable amount of hay and other fodder, and have it of the very 

 best quality for making rich milk. 



Old-Fashioned Style of Raising Hay. 



The old New England practice of our fathers and grandfathers, 

 which still exists, I believe, on too many of our farms, of making 

 corn, potatoes, pumpkins, white beans and the small grains as rye, 

 oats and barley, the principal crops, and hay a secondary one, has 

 on my place been entirely abandoned. 



Under the old system, after a field had ceased to produce enough 

 hay to pay for the harvesting, it was given over to the cows, 

 till, in many cases, it was no longer worth pasturing. It was then 

 plowed and planted with potatoes or corn, beans and pumpkins, or 

 all of them together, for one, two, or three years. And, as almost 

 every farmer had land that needed plowing oftener than he could 

 get round to it, he was tempted to plow up more each year than he 

 could well manure. So a little manure was put in the hills, which 

 gave the crop just enough power to enable it to draw out about all 

 the strength the land possessed. The next crops were either r3^e, 

 oats or barley, sown without applying an additional coat of ma- 

 nure, which so reduced the fertility of the land that the grass seed 

 which was put in with the grain, seldom showed itself, except the 

 clover, till the second year afterwards. This system of rotation 

 gave corn or some other hoed crops one or more 3'ears, then some 

 kind of small grain sown with grass seed, then clover, and on the 

 fourth year from plowing, provided it was planted but one year, 

 English grass again. The mowing fields were always pastured 

 after haying, and often till the grass was gnawed close down to the 

 roots. This was tlie practice on my farm till within a few years. 

 If the season was favoral)le, one or two fair crops of hay were ob- 

 tained during the rotation. 



Hay the Main Crop. 



Now, hay is made the principal crop, and the others, if any are 

 grown, are only secondary. The grass is treated with manure 

 just as arc other crops, and it is allowed the whole benefit of the 

 land, ver}^ little grain being sowed with it, and it is generally 

 manured with a light coat spread on the surface at the time of 

 sowing. Even if the land is in pretty good condition, a light dress- 

 ing of manure spread on top of the ground and slightl}^ harrowed 

 in, at the time of sowing, will often make the difference of one 

 crop the first year. The grass is pushed forward early in the 

 spring, gets a start of the weeds, so that two instead of one crop 

 can be cut the first season. For the sake of having the hay of the 



