10 



SECRETARY^ REPORT, 



on their farms; rear and feed a larger number of 

 cattle, sheep and swine; cultivate more root crops; 

 expend a larger portion of their produce upon the 

 farm, and rely for profits upon the sale of beef, mutton, 

 pork, butter and cheese, they would by so doing find , 

 their manure heaps constantly enlarging, their crops 

 annually increasing, instead of diminishing, as they 

 now do, by the practice of selling the crops off the 

 farm, and placing the proceeds at interest, to be event- 

 ually more or less of it lost by bad investments. 

 Many farmers believe themselves growing rich by sell- ■ 

 ing their hay, especially if they purchase and return 

 to the farm as much manure as the hay sold will make, 

 and if they do not, their farms will soon become worth- 

 less, or nearly so. The average market price of a ton 

 of good hay in Worcester county, for the last ten 

 years, will not exceed fifteen dollars ; a ton of good 

 hay will make more than two tons .of solid manure, 

 weighed when recently dropped by the cow or ox, but 

 we will call it two tons. The liquid excretions dis- 

 charged by an ordinary cow or ox, while consuming 

 one ton of hay, with a suitable supply of water, will 

 be admitted by all who understand the matter, to be 

 equal in value to the solid. Thus four tons of manure 

 is produced by a cow while consuming one ton of hay. 

 Four tons of fresh manure is equal, by measurment, 

 to one and one-quarter cords weighing sixty-four hun- 

 dred pounds the cord, or fifty pounds the cubic foot, 

 the value of which we will estimate at four dollars the 

 cord, and one ton of good marketable hay we will call 

 worth six dollars the ton, for feeding stock on the 



