4!J 



Many old pastures are abandoned to wood and bushes, and otbei'S 

 are grown over with moss. Farmers icll us that they must reduce 

 their stock, or improve their pastures, or find a substitute for grass. 

 Many are sceptical as to the expediency of renovating a worn-out 

 pasture, and others think they cannot afford the expense. Some 

 experiments have been made probably in every town, which show 

 that to break up, manure and seed down old pastures is as profit- 

 able an investment of money as a farmer can make ; especially if 

 he lives within a milkman's route. It would be a benefit to the 

 agricultural community if those, who have done most and best in 

 this line, would send the detail of their operations to the news- 

 papers, or incorporate them with the transactions of our Society. 



We find but one opinion among farmers as to the profitableness 

 of corn-fodder as a supplement to the pasture. It comes just 

 when the pasture begins to fail, and furnishes a grateful and valu- 

 able food. It is believed that an acre of good land well cultivated 

 will yield twenty-five tons of green fodder or seven tons of dry. 

 Every year the culture of this article is extending itself. We 

 would observe that the sweet corn furnishes the most profitable 

 fodder ; not so large and heavy as some other kinds, but more 

 tender and nutricious, and so agreeable to cattle that they eat it 

 with little waste. 



It would require too much space to detail the numerous in- 

 stances of reclaiming bogs and meadows, that deserve to be men- 

 tioned. In every direction we see this Avork going on, from small 

 lots to acres ; and in every case, the particulars of which have come 

 to our notice, with decided profit. One farmer has reclaimed and 

 improved ten acres within two years, at an expense of ^1,500, 

 and this year has cut thirty tons of good hay. This is an illustra- 

 tion, on a somewhat large scale, of what is done in hundreds of 

 instances on a smaller scale. Several individuals have observed 

 to us, that they had just discovered they had hitherto been neglect 

 ing the most valuable part of their farms.* 



* We cannot help referrini; particularly to the improvements efiected by 

 Capt. Asa Pickering of Belliiifrham. This gentleman's valuable farm was 

 sixteen years ago wholly uncultivated, covered with bushes and bogs. By 

 almost incredible labor, with his own hands he has made a beautiful and 

 profitable farm — beginning the enterprise after his fiftieth year. Using the 

 hand hoe, he turned over five or six acres of bogs and hassocks, then carted 



