14 MR. fay's address, 



wag hastcncfl bj good culture and high manuring, suffered but little, 

 while thoso which received only common attention were very 

 seriously diminished. Two or three additional cords of manure to 

 the acre would have secured in almost every case, quite a full average 

 crop throughout this county. 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 deterioration and 

 decay in our agriculture, unless we find that something more profi- 

 table has taken its place. We shall look, however, in vain for 

 anything of the kind ; every sheep, therefore, 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 improve- 

 ment. Valuable as fertilizers when folded, they likewise improve 

 and renovate pasture 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 



• 



*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 bones - - - 7 cwt. - - " 



Woolen rags, - - - 12 " - - " 



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



Nitrate of soda, - - 1 to 3 " with 1-2 the weight of salt. 

 Lime, - - - - H tons per acre. 



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

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

 nure, the information to be gained from the embodiment of it in one report would be 

 .very valuable. 



