GRAIN. til 



(this year,) $40.00, wliich added, gives the gross amount ^'JG.43, 

 showing a slight difference in fovor of the turnip. 



If we assume 25 tons of turnips per acre, it is just to say that oO 

 bushels of wheat can be grown on the same or similar soil of equal 

 tilth, at GO lbs. per bushel, =1«SOO. Five bushels of wheat usually 

 will yield 1 bbl. flour, hence an acre at that rate would give G bbls. 

 flour, at S10.50=$Go.OO, to which we add tlie value of the middlings, 

 GOO lbs. at IJ cts.=rS9.00, also the value of the straw, 1 ton, $20. (»b, 

 making in the aggregate, $92.00, being about as much less in value 

 than the otlier crops as the cost of cultivation. 



It is plain that llye for soiling may bo and is a profitable crop, as it 

 can be grown and used at a season when we have nothing else. A 

 piece of greensward that is run out for grass, plowed in August and 

 manured with some fertilizer, as leached ashes or superphosphate, giv- 

 ing the young roots a strong foothold to withstand the freezings and 

 thawings of winter, and an early start the following spring, if the sea- 

 son is favorable the crop is ready to cut by 20th of May or 1st of June, 

 and the field may be cleared of this crop in June and another crop be 

 sown or planted for soiling ; when the second crop is removed, first of 

 September, with another dressing of manure or some fertilizer, the land 

 may again be in good tilth for another crop ; thus two crops may be 

 taken for soiling provided we replenish liberally with manures or fertil- 

 izers. The Rye crop we consider a profitable one where the soil is suit- 

 able, as the straw readily sells at nearly the price of good hay. 



Another class of crops used for feeding, being the foundation of all 

 others, is the grasses ; these contain when made into hay some 14 or 

 15 per cent, of water; in the green state before drying, some SO per 

 cent. The dry part consists largely of woody fibre, say oO per cent. ; 

 besides this there are valuable (Quantities of nutritious bodies, gum, 

 sugar, oil, &c., to the amount of 26 per cent, in meadow hay ; the 

 amount in English hay not stated in the table. 



The time of cutting has much to do with the nutritive value of hay ; 

 when the leaves and stems are green they contain large quantities of 

 sugar and gum which as they ripen are changed into woody fibre, and 

 every experienced farmer well knows that large portions of these are 

 lost before they are fed ; hence, after grass has attained its full size and 

 height, it loses large portions of its nutritious qualities by delay of cut- 

 ting. It wa^ a rule of the milk producers of Middlesex County, (Con- 

 cord and Lexington), years ago, if harvesting the crop was delayed so 

 late that the stalk above the upper joint could not be easily separated 

 from the sheath, and the lower part of it become contracted and with- 

 ered, the hay would not produce its full ({uantity of milk. 



A question here presents itself whether it is more economical for the 

 farmers in Worcester Xorth to employ labor at the present high 

 prices to hoe corn and grow roots, or to spread the manure that is 

 produced from a given grass field, every year upon the same, and grow 

 good Timothy and Red Top. 



What has been said in relation to early cut hay, the same occurs in 

 the straw of grains and corn stalks ; if they are cut ten days before the 



