18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ask is, what is the best way to get rid of bushes, where the 

 pastures are stony and rocky ? 



Mr. Cotton. I know of no good method, except hard 

 work. If that costs too much, the only thing is timber. That 

 is something each one must figure out for his own particular 

 pasture. 



Professor Rake. How about sheep ? 



Mr. Cotton. I am recommending them very highly. I 

 find that sheep have played a very important part in the 

 building up of pastures. On these hillside areas it seems 

 to me there should be more sheep. I have seen pastures in 

 Vermont where the dairy herd had no place, — they are too 

 steep, and make too much work for the cow and the man. 

 The sheep kill out a great many weeds, and will keep back 

 a good many kinds of bushes, but upon the coarser bushes 

 they have no effect. Perhaps they might be used to keep 

 the sprouts down after the bushes are mowed, thus saving 

 the trouble of further mowing. 



Mr. J. F. Adams. I have kept sheep for some years, and 

 my experience is that they will kill out some kinds of weeds, 

 such as golden rod, very well, but that they will starve to death 

 before they will feed on bushes. 



Mr. Turner. The bayberry bush and the blueberry bush 

 trouble us the most. Would the shceji eat these ? 



Mr. Cotton. I don't think so. I am inclined to think 

 that the blueberry biish is an indication that the land needs 

 lime, and that liming would help the condition. 



Mr. P. M. IIarwood. The lecturer has covered the 

 ground in a very comprehensive way as to the building 

 up of our ]^ew England jiastures. There are certain por- 

 tions of our pastures that should go back into timber. I 

 remember a certain hilltop in my native town, where the 

 timber was cut off years ago, the ground burned over and 

 rye raised for several years, that has been absolutely good for 

 nothing for pasture. It now has seeded to white ]iine, and 

 the pines are growing well. On the other side of the wall on 

 that same hill, where the humus was not burned off, there has 

 been good pasture all the time. ]\fany of us have been over- 

 cropping our pastures. The farmer in Massachusetts is 



