94 H. B. STEVENS ON ENSILAGE. 



in their now difficult competition with the cheaper and richer lands of 

 the West. 



By it, also, the Southern States, below the line of our Northern 

 grasses, are enabled to feed and fatten their cattle in winter and 

 summer as well, and nearly or quite as cheaply, as where tame grasses 

 abound. 



If I can aid the farmers of Massachusetts any by my opinions, I 

 shall be glad. I was bred upon a farm in Charlemont, Mass. ; and if 

 the same energy, attention, and pluck were in operation there now, 

 upon the farms, the hills would be green and covered with flocks to 

 their tops, and that State would be less dependent than now on the 

 West and South, while we would continue to be the nursery of hardy 

 manhood for business and the nation. I shall be glad to see and 

 read your book. 



Very truly yours, 



O. B. POTTER, 

 26 Lafayette Place (Farm at Sing Sing, N.Y.). 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



CORRESPONDENCE FROM 



CTA-OOIB 



WASSAIC, N.Y., FEB. 5, 1881. 



MR. H. R. STEVENS. 



Dear Sir: 



Yours in relation to ensilage is just received. Your questions are 

 very comprehensive to be answered by one who has had but one sea- 

 son's experience, and that by no means thorough : consequently, I 

 must first confess that on many points I should be a very blind guide, 

 and can support my opinions by very few facts. 



I will take up your questions in order. 



I am quite sure that the large-growing Southern corn is best adapted 

 for the purpose of ensilage^ ; but new varieties with stronger tendency 



