37 



He estimates that on an acre of good land, twenty tons of 

 green fodder ma}'- be raised. That which is dried is cut fine and 

 mixed with meal or shorts, and eaten with profit. He behoves 

 that a reduced and partially worn-out farm, supposing the land 

 to be naturally good, could be brought into prime order in five 

 years, without extra outlay of money for manure, by the use of 

 green fodder in connection with the raising and keeping of pigs.* 

 Not fattening them, but selling at the age of four or five months. 

 Ilis own success certainly offers great encouragement. He traces 

 it chiefly to making a large quantity of manure ; large, that is, in 

 proportion to the size of his farm, which is small. Most of his 

 cultivated land is in grass. He keeps it down from eight to ten 

 years, practising top-grassing. 



Now "we naturally entertain great respect for a man who makes 

 money by his business, and improves his farm at the same time. 

 However theoretically wrong his opinion may appear, it is justified 

 by the results of the practice that grows directly out of it. When 

 by following out his idea, he increases the value of his land and 

 puts money in his pocket for a series of years, w'e must beheve in 

 such an infallible logic. 



There is not a town in the county that does not show an 

 increased growth of carrots or ruta bagas, as supplementary arti- 

 cles of food for cattle. They are, perhaps, more desirable than 

 common, in consequence of the damage done to the quality of 

 the grass by the heavy rains, especially in the meadows, where 

 much was lost and all injured. May it not be questioned whether 

 hay is not generally more impaired in value by standing too long, 

 than when cut early ? Be this as it may, roots form a valuable 



dairy cows, (if properly managed,) including for bay ; whereas, in the 

 common mode of feeding, twice that number of acres would not do, and 

 they would not produce above half the quantity of milk and butter." 



* Mr. D. finds that one breeding sow will turn over and thoroughly mix 

 with the droppings of cattle, one ox-cart load of mud or loam per week, 

 making the best top-dressing' for grass. This is his practice, and he manu- 

 factures in this way, great quantities of manure to keep his mowing lands 

 in the most productive state. When we consider that the first want upon 

 a farm is that of manure, and that very few farmers supply as much as they 

 might; when we remember what a waste there often is of privy manure, 

 of the drainings of the sink, of the leaves and stalks of plants, we shoukl 

 be stimulated by every such example as the one before us, to studv the 

 strictest economy in the production and application of manure. 



