38 



addition to the food of cattle, both as nutrhnent and as an altera- 

 tive in promoting health. No one article of dry food contains 

 the variety of nutritive principles required by the constitutions of 

 cattle. For working horses hay distends the stomach too much, 

 and makes labor and travelling difficult, to say nothing of the fact 

 that much hay is musty or mixed with weeds. The exclusive use 

 of hay food induces constipation. A judicious mixture of carrots 

 with hay, is probably the very best fodder for working horses. 

 Their value for milch cows was well understood long since. Our 

 acquaintance with the farming of the county has not brought to 

 our knowledge any other way in which so large an amount of food 

 can be raised upon the same quantity of land, and with so little 

 labor. The idea is famihar enough in England, where land is 

 dear and economy of space to be considered. Indeed, it was 

 said long ago, that " the foundation of good agriculture was the 

 raising of roots, as winter food for cattle." As land becomes 

 more valuable here, the more clearly will it be seen that the crop 

 which yields from thirty to forty tons of nutritious food per acre, 

 must take precedence of others, especially in a community where 

 there is a growing demand for horse fodder, and where new butter 

 and milk bring the highest prices. The cultivation required is 

 attended with a large outlay, but that is of no importance pro- 

 vided the income is in a far greater ratio. The crop pays for all, 

 to say nothing of the pleasure of seeing such great and decided 

 improvements. " Half the diseases from which cattle suifer, pro- 

 ceed from obstructions occasioned by dry food." 



Several of our acquaintances have failed to raise large crops 

 of carrots, from forgetfulness of the necessity of deep ploughing 

 and high manuring. Carrots require both, and will handsomely 

 repay all the manure and cultivation they receive.* The land 

 should be ploughed three times to bring it into fine tilth, and not 

 harrowed, but simply brushed smooth, that it may be light. The 



* An account of one of the largest growths of carrots in this county may- 

 be found in Transactions of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, Vol. 

 1, p. 83. The crop amounted to one hundred and sixty bushels, on one- 

 eighth of an acre, or at the rate of more than thirty tons per acre. The 

 only peculiarity we can discover in the proceeding was, that the manure, 

 three ox-cart loads, was ploughed in, in November. As soon as the frost 

 was out, the land was ploughed again, and a third time in May. The most 

 thorough culture is generally rewarded with the most remunerating crop. 

 The tendency of men to attend to their own or their fathers' ways makes 

 it hard for this truth to be believed. 



