218 THE NECESSITY FOR GOOD PASTURE, &C. 
profitable. Yet you have the satisfaction of knowing, that, in 
tilling the soil, you are operating in mines equal to California, 
for the produce of that soil can all be turned into gold. As a 
community of farmers, you will find it to your advantage to 
cultivate none but the best kind of grass ; the whole pasture 
lands will then be filled with valuable grass seeds. The number 
of grasses worth cultivating are but few, and these should be 
sown separately. It is bad policy to sow different kinds of 
grass together — just as bad as to sow wheat, oats, and turnips 
promiscuously, 
The reason why the farmers, as a community, will be bene- 
fitted by sowing none but the best seed is, because grass seeds 
are distributed through neighbouring pastures by the winds, and 
there take root. Now, if the neighbouring pastures abound in 
inferior grasses, the fields will soon be filled with useless plants, 
which are very difficult to get rid of. 
Another object of great importance to you is, to furnish your 
stock with pure water. There is not one of you within the 
sound of my voice but who considers wholesome water neces- 
sary for the preservation of your own health and that of your 
families. Cattle have often been known to turn away from the 
filthy stuff found in some troughs, and, indeed, in some pastures; 
the common stagnated pond water I allude to, that is found in 
low situations, sometimes the result of drainage without spring 
or outlet. Such water has, in former years, proved itself to be a 
serious cause of disease; and, at the present day, death is 
running riot among the stock of our western and also our 
northern farmers, when, to my certain knowledge, the cause 
exists, in some cases, under their very noses. They ofttimes 
see the very best stock sicken and die without any apparent 
cause ; and the cattle-doctors are running rough-shod through 
the materia medica, pouring down the throats of your poor 
brutes salts by the pound, castor-oil by the pint, converting the 
stomach into an apothecary’s shop. Setons are inserted in the 
dewlap, the horns are bored, and finally sawn off; and, as a last 
resort, the animal is physicked, blistered, and bled. They 
sometimes recover, but dear-bought experience has taught many 
of you that it would be more convenient, as well as profitable, 
to prevent disease, instead of undertaking the unsatisfactory 
task of curing it. 
My attention was first called to this important subject by 
reading an article in an English work a few years ago ; the 
facts were these : — A number of working oxen were put into a 
pasture, in which was a pond considered to abound in good 
water. Soon after putting them there they were attacked with 
scouring, upon which they were removed to another field. The 
