24 NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE. 



loss. Weeds come in to prod the fanner to his duty. He is 

 burning his candle at both ends. 



The length of the old rotation was accordingly reduced from 

 eight to five years, the first being devoted to corn or oats, and 

 the remaining four to grass ; any part of the land not wanted 

 for the first mentioned crops being sown at once to the latter. 

 By this change, the hay raised has been increased in quantity 

 and improved in quality. 



Stable-keepers do not want fine hay, grown at the rate of a 

 ton or three quarters of a ton per acre. They desire that of a 

 coarser quality, which grew at the rate of from a ton and a half 

 to two and a half tons per acre. And if he would have them 

 buy it, the farmer must furnish the kind which they desire. As 

 the late Capt. John H. Moore of Massachusetts once put it, 

 when asked the variety of strawberries which he raised, " I 



raise the variety, the meanest variety, the variety the 



Boston people want." 



The objective point proposed at this departure from the 

 old course of cropping, was the production of hay at an 

 average rate of two tons per acre per annum. Its attainment 

 has been found dependent upon certain inexorable conditions: 



i. A thorough pulverization of the soil every five years. 



2. An uninterrupted maintenance of adequate assimilable 

 plant food in the soil. 



3. Reseeding with sufficient frequency to insure a good stand 

 of grass plants at all times. 



These conditions have been pretty satisfactorily met by sod 

 breakings seven or eight inches deep every five years, followed 

 by thorough pulverizations by the harrow ; by a careful mix- 

 ture with the soil of six cords per acre of good stable manure, 

 and an even application of seed subsequently rolled in. It is 

 at once apparent that under this rule five acres of a twenty-five 

 acre grass field will require plowing, manuring, and seeding 

 each year. 



Sod ground may be broken up in spring, summer, or autumn, 

 as may be found most convenient. On the First Minister's Farm 

 this is done in August or the first half of September, if the 

 ground is to be sown to grass, and immediately afterwards 

 manured, harrowed, and seeded. Ordinarily the plants get 



