356 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
There are, manifestly, several other reasons why salt hay should be 
less highly esteemed nowadays than it was when the condition of the 
country was different. At the time when our farmers were in the 
habit of wintering as many cattle as possible, in medium or low condi- 
tion, for the sake of utilizing the summer pasturage, the accumulation 
of large quantities of bulky fodder, at the least possible cost, was an 
important point in good husbandry. So, too, the fact that salt hay is 
greatly relished by cattle, when given to them either as a condiment or 
for the sake of a change of diet, was a point of much greater significance 
formerly than it is now, when a great variety of foddering materials 
fit to serve these purposes can be bought in our markets. The diffi- 
culty, moreover, of harvesting salt hay by machinery, would tend to 
make its cost, as compared with the cost of upland hay, relatively 
higher, in proportion to its worth, than was the case when all kinds of 
hay were made by hand; though it would seem, at first sight, as if all 
such considerations as this must be more than offset by the fact that 
the salt marshes are really water-meadows, whose fertility is incessantly 
renewed by the sea. They stand in no need of manuring or of tillage, 
but yield continually their crops of hay and of peat, at the mere cost 
of harvesting and of ditching. 
The hardy cattle of the last century were probably rather better 
fitted to deal with the coarser kinds of food than the somewhat im- 
proved stock of the present day. But in any event it is to be observed 
that the coarse hays, whether salt or fresh, were not ill adapted for 
the purposes to which they were applied, when the object of the farmer. 
was simply to maintain his cattle, without seeking to obtain from them . 
any appreciable amount either of milk, or of flesh, or of work. 
In view of all these considerations, it would seem that both the 
esteem in which salt-marsh hay was formerly held, and the present 
disfavor with which it is regarded, have really been based, in the main, 
on true and legitimate grounds. It will be seen that the analysis of | 
rush salt grass, which constitutes the main burden of sea-marshes, does 
not indicate that our farmers have erred very much in renouncing the 
old opinion of its worth. It has been shown, already, that the results 
of the analyses are in accord with the popular conviction that black- 
grass hay, and in general the hay from brackish marshes, is better fod- 
der than the hay of the rush salt grass that grows upon marshes which 
are more fully exposed to the sea. So fur, indeed, as may be judged 
