I do not propose to discuss the question whether sheep may be profitable for our farmers to keep for mutton and wool, either in this or any part of the State, but as a means of reclaiming such pastures as cannot be subdued by that great subduer, the PLOUGH.

From long experience it is evident that mowing bushes will not eradicate them. That we may obtain the necessary feed for our stock in summer, and that our pastures may not become a wild, the bushes and other improper growths must be cut as often, at least, as once in two years, which, at the present high price of labor, will cost from four to six dollars per acre; or from two to three, if mowed every year. If we only mow, we must re-mow during our lives, and our land becomes no richer by the use of the scythe; therefore we shall leave a worthless inheritance to our children, and the more of the like we leave, the poorer will they be, if our example and footsteps are followed by them.

If we conclude to lay the scythe aside, but are still determined to subdue, while we cannot plough, our resort must be to the HOE. When this instrument is used, the roots must be cut about two inches below the surface of the ground. This will effectually destroy the shrubs. Having cut the bushes and other similar pests in this manner, and burned them, select a day just previous to a gentle rain, if convenient, applying some of the fertilizing agents mentioned, and re-seed, using a harrow for the purpose, if possible. This method for small patches, at least, will be found a profitable means of subduing and improving some lands.

Many of our pastures might be much improved by receiving a new supply of grass seeds of the best varieties; and this, in many instances, will be absolutely necessary to obtain, by the application of fertilizing combinations, a satisfactory result.

The use of the hoe for large tracts of land would be rather expensive, but far better and cheaper in the end than the everlasting and inefficient operation of the scythe.

But will not sheep be a far better and still cheaper means than either of those instruments for the farmer to employ? At the present time sheep may be purchased for from two to five dollars each; and this quality will be as effectual for mere purposes of subduing pernicious growths as those costing much more.

From five to seven sheep may be pastured on the same amount of ground required to keep one cow; she will never destroy the growing bushes nor prevent others from springing up. But turn out the five or seven sheep instead, and within five years, our bushy pastures, nearly worthless now, might become flourishing and valuable as in former times.

Sheep thus employed as substitutes for the scythe and hoe, which latter scatter no fertilizing products behind, are vastly more ready subduers, and, at the same time, leave a large amount of manure of superior excellence. Even the very plants and shrubs we seek to destroy by this means are converted largely into this valuable substance for the growth of the grass we need. Thus our pastures, many of them, may be made luxuriantly green and velvety as those lawns surrounding your dwelling-places.

May not this desirable object be accomplished by much less expense in the use of sheep than in any other manner, considering they will produce a few pounds of wool yearly, and a lamb or two each, the profits of which will nearly equal the product of a poorly kept cow, and this at no cost for mowing or manuring the land?

Irrigation is another method which may be adopted for the improvement of some pastures of this class, or any other favorably located, and needing moisture at certain seasons. This may be attained by the construction of a suitable reservoir at the most convenient point, with a conduit laid to discharge the water, accumulating within from rains from time to time, into a furrow leading along into other furrows running in somewhat parallel directions around the hillside. These furrows may be furnished with small outlets here and there, in a manner to distribute the water evenly as possible over the entire surface, thus securing an invigorating source of moisture to the soil in dry seasons, and those elements of fertility held in watery solution. The whole expense need be but trifling-only that necessary for the preparation of the excavation, the erection of a slight roof to conduct the water into it, and for laying the conduit and furrows. Our moderately hilly or rolling pasture lands are usually our best and most fertile grazing grounds. These, except in rare instances, should never be broken by the plough, breaking up impairing their value.

This class are generally quite free from bushes and other foul growths prejudicial to fertility, and no particular complaint may be offered in regard to them, except they are in an unproductive state, some of the causes of which have been already hinted.

Should there be found on the surface of any of this class patches of bushes, wild grasses and brambles, more or less numerous, these should receive the same treatment previously recommended for such cases whenever they occur.

Here I would remark in general, that, for some of our cold, wet pastures, sloping northerly and westerly, upon which the influence of the sun is but imperfectly felt, some form of drainage might be beneficial; and it has been stated by some careful observers that the effects of gypsum are more decided on slopes of this character and inclination.

Shade trees are desirable on all pasture lands, both as an embellishment to the grounds and comfort to herds and flocks. These should be allowed to stand, or planted when none are growing, on the highest or least productive portions.

Some pastures included in this class might be benefited by harrowing the surface in early spring time, and scattering some seed anew, with the application of some fertilizing materials in form of dust or compost before indicated. But generally this class require only a fresh supply of seed scattered over them on the snows of spring, with an occasional dressing with appropriate compounds, together with rest once in awhile for a season. This course, with fair and judicious stocking, will insure an ample reward for our labor and outlay. Nor would just the amount of increase in grass thereby furnished for our animals, the profits of which we should receive in flesh and milk, be all the extra gain derived from this changed condition; but our stock would become permanently improved and their value enhanced, while, at the same time, their manurial products scattered over these acres, or accumulated for use on other lands of the farm, would be proportionally increased in quantity and quality; for the richer the food consumed the more highly nourishing to plants are all the excrements derived therefrom.

Judging by their management, many seem to think that manure is all the same from whatever kind of food derived, all the difference being that which distinguishes its animal sources, as from horses, neat stock, sheep, swine, &c., whether from

healthful, fleshy, comfortable creatures, well cared for and fed, or from poor, miserable, half famished, neglected specimens. But this is a mistake.

If our pastures are enriched by affording the requisite elements for an abundance of highly nutritive grass required for the finest and highest development of our animals, a large proportion of the excellence contained in the food supplied will be found in the manure, and this must necessarily be of much greater value than that can be from animals grazing upon neglected pastures affording but a limited amount of that richness of nourishment conducive to vigor and strength. How important, then, in every point of view, that we turn our attention immediately to the renovation of our grazing lands, and adopt some new and more successful methods of improvement, those hitherto practised having nearly exhausted and ruined all; and especially when we reflect that without flourishing, fertile pasturage our herds and flocks, of whatever BLOOD, must inevitably languish and cease to yield a profit, while our farms, in other departments, must also deteriorate.

Lowlands may require a different treatment from either of the classes mentioned, but all have many demands in common. Those in this class overgrown with moss, coarse grass, ferns and and rushes, in root and in surface-soil most difficult of decomposition by the usual methods, and having a cold, insoluble base of clay, should be treated by a course of deep drainage, paring and burning, thoroughly harrowing, lightly manuring, spreading evenly the ashes over the surface, and seeding with those varieties of grass most desirable. This course may be adopted with the assurance of great success.

Ploughing and thorough cultivation, seeding in the usual manner, may be attended by similar good results; still I incline to the adoption of drainage, paring and burning as offering the best and most certain mode of subjugation of this variety, and the entire destruction of the seeds and roots of every mischievous growth by which it has been infested.

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On smooth lowlands, producing already the desirable varieties grass, some finely-prepared barnyard manure spread evenly over the ground, or the occasional sowing of some fertilizing agents recommended, will insure abundant and satisfactory crops. To practise a system of the rotation of crops on some of

these lands might be, perhaps, attended by greater profits than stocking all of them permanently to pasture. It must be borne in mind, however, that in pursuing this system, rest, at least, during one year in five, is considered important, and that more labor is required, and a greater outlay in manure. But we must be guided in our management by the surrounding circumstances.

In all cases appertaining to seeding lands for pasturage, we should determine, as far as possible, for what use they are more particularly desired,-for fattening or for dairy purposes; because experience and observation have taught that the same pastures or variety of grasses do not produce meat and milk with equal facility.

The practice adopted by many farmers of mowing lands for the hay-crop, during two or three years immediately subsequent to stocking with grass, but intended ultimately for pasturing, is, in my judgment, highly prejudicial, and should be abandoned, devoting them from the first strictly for grazing.

Our newly-seeded grounds for pasturage should be cautiously fed, always endeavoring to leave some grass for seed, and a sufficient growth near the surface for the protection of the roots during seasons of drought, and from the destructive frosts of winter. Indeed, who does not know that a pasture, stripped of all its vegetation, and fed, as is often the case, so closely as to loosen many of the grass roots, will the next season produce but a small allowance of feed; but that, with prudent cropping, will yield an abundance of luxuriant food.

With wise and careful management in this respect, and with a sufficient quantity and a good quality of gypsum sown per acre, occasionally, as required, or its equivalent in weight of some other sustaining and invigorating agent of fertility, will preserve the productiveness of our naturally good pasture-lands to the end of time; and, certainly, for those having less of the original elements of vitality and energy, this peculiar caution and care is all the more essential.

In 1849, I purchased a small farm, divided, as usual, into pasturing and tillage. One pasture, containing five acres, sloping gradually north-easterly, with a gravelly soil abounding in small stones, was inclosed by a stone-wall and situated on the highest point of the farm. It was completely overrun by small