412 
Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
bers, and if we would induce them to follow the calling which we 
follow, we must labor to show some pecuniary results from the 
business, and in order to do this, I believe in scientific farming. I 
believe we should avail ourselves of every help within our reach to 
accomplish this object. 
Mr. Seymour: After making so full a statement, perhaps I ought 
not to occupy the time of the convention, but I would meet the 
objection raised by my friend at my left, Mr. Graves. Mr. Cheever 
speaks of the weight of orchard-grass, and its lodging. It should 
be cut early, after that you have it under command and if neces- 
sar} T , it can be cut three times in the season. I would say further 
in regard to the point of my friend on the right, Mr. Peffer. He 
speaks of the European plan of agriculture. He speaks of the su¬ 
gar-beet. One of the chief benefits arising from these roots, the 
beet and the turnip, is the broad leaf that shades the ground from 
the rays of the sun, and also, derives a great deal of its nutriment 
from the atmosphere instead of the soil, and Mr. Webster, in his 
report to the Massachusetts legislature, after his return from Eu¬ 
rope, in 1839, stated that the turnip had revolutionized the agricul¬ 
ture of England, and that one of the chief benefits was, that it was 
a product which adds a large amount of forage or food, and which 
makes it valuable for us in carrying on the farming operations with 
stock, and without impairing the soil, and instead of pursuing the 
old principle every four years of allowing the land to become 
fallow, after three j T ears cropping, which was equivalent to the 
withdrawal of one-fourth of the tillage of the land of England, they 
fell into the habit of restoring this land with the turnip, and the 
result has been instead of a rotation of crops in England, for the im¬ 
provement of their land, they have fallen back upon the turnip. 
Mr. Webster says the turnip-fields were from ten to thirty acres in 
size, yet he very often saw a turnip-field of one hundred acres, and 
three and five hundred acres. In this country we can derive bene¬ 
fit from the same source. I think the objection that is raised about 
grass, is met by Mr. Cheever in his valuable paper. He says it 
should be cut earl} r . He would rather cut his orchard-grass, with 
a certainty that a three-days 1 storm would overtake him before he 
could cure and house it, rather than let it run three days, and be¬ 
come dry and wiry, and hard. As to the productiveness of farming, 
I*have watched this thing along pretty well, and hear farmers 
