322 [Assembly 



mail has made a dam on the stream near his buildings, which 

 makes a pond for watering his stock, and other purposes. There 

 is deposited in this pond a rich sediment j he lets off the pond 

 occasionally, to get this as manure for his farm. I saw the 

 effects of it on some of his grass land, put on this season ; where 

 the manure from the pond was spread, the grass was nearly or 

 quite a third larger and stouter, every way, than that beside it 

 where there was none. We took a ride to see a friend near New- 

 ark, on the heights, in sight of it — a farmer; his farm was in 

 similar order to the one described, in every way equal, and some 

 might think superior — the grains and grasses full as goo^l. This 

 gentleman's farm, and a few of his neighbors, have recently been 

 invaded by an army of grasshoppers. They were making dread- 

 ful ravages, especially in gardens ; grains and grass (that is hay) 

 would not be so much injured, although they might some. Indi- 

 an corn and the second growth of grass would probably be much 

 injured. The potato tops and vines appeared to be eut to pieces. 

 These gentlemen, neither of them, raised vegetables for the 

 Newark market, or any other; that is, to make that their sole 

 business; they farmed, in the main, as farmers do fifty or one hun- 

 dred miles in the interior, for the grains, grasses, hay, dairy, &c., 

 There was some open draining. They manured well, plowed 

 deep and thorough, and tillage generally of the best kind; their 

 soil is rather of the stiff order, perhaps a clay loam, sand enough 

 probably, to make it mellow and penetrable. If there were un- 

 derdraining, it w^as not gi^at, nor of the expensive kind, such as 

 are made with tile and stone, and built tip like the walls of a 

 cellar, costing from $15 to $20 per acre. They have prospered, 

 under this prudent and judicious course, as all their neighbors 

 know, and many other circumstances would show, if I chose to 

 adduce them. Other systems of farming may be attended with 

 as much success, and perhaps some more ; all I wish is, to state 

 facts, and spread them before the great farming public. It must 

 be admitted by all that the greatest economy and industry mvist 

 be pursued in any and every system to succeed. 



Prof. Mapes, editor of the Working Farmer^ made the follow- 

 ing remarks : The cultivation of roots as food for cattle is rapid- 

 ly increasing. Both the economy and profit of root feeding is no 



