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construction, and the expense of keeping in repair. And it must necessarily require more labor, than a single, compact, and simple arrangement, where no great distance is to be traversed, and where everything is within easy reach.

A barn of parallelogram shape, forty-two feet wide, and of indefinite length, with entrance at one end, and exit at the other, furnishes the best accommodations, and the best opportunity for all sorts of conveniences, of any building that has been brought under our notice. Such a barn as this can be extended, without fear of destroying its convenience. A barn, constructed on this plan, comprises all that can be required for managing a farm, with the exception of those matters immediately connected with the house. Such a barn is the most useful and economical building which a farmer can erect, capable as it is of covering his crops, his cattle, and his manure.

CROPS.

The crops in the county, during the last season, have been, in most cases, abundant. Small grain, especially barley, has suffered much; the seed germinating slowly on account of the spring-drought, and the heavy mid-summer rains preventing the berry from reaching full maturity. The barley crop, one most adapted to the soil of this county, has suffered to the extent of one third of the average yield. Wheat has done well in many places. Winter rye gave a good yield. Corn did remarkably well, considering the wet season; filling rapidly in the warm days of early autumn. Root crops have been abundant, wherever the seed had a good opportunity to germinate. The size and quality of the mangolds and ruta bagas of this year have seldom been surpassed. Late sown English turnips have reached an unusual size. The onion crop has begun to regain its former excellence, before the days of the maggot; and at the present prices, it has been exceedingly remunerative. The failure of the crop of squashes, very generally in the county, constitutes one of the peculiar features in our farming this year; and in view of this fact, we would call the attention

of the Society, and of cultivators generally, to the statement of Mr. J. J. H. Gregory of Marblehead, whose large crop of Turban squashes bears favorable testimony to his skillful mode of cultivation. Although the fruit crop has also failed, still the earth has yielded bounteously to the husbandman; and an unusually active market has enabled him to overcome the obstacles which scanty and expensive labor has thrown in his way. It is a fact worthy of notice that the markets of Maryland have been supplied this autumn with beets, turnips, carrots and cabbages from the farms of Essex county.

The great agricultural trial among us this year, has been the securing of our hay crop. In the early part of the season grass was so light as to promise, even on the best field, hardly more than half a crop, and that too, hay of a half matured and very inferior quality. It was not until the haying season had begun, and, with some of the small farmers, had gone, that the grass began to grow. And the unusual and extraordinary spectacle was presented in August, of a scanty crop of herdsgrass already over ripe, through which was growing another thick and luxuriant crop, destined to constitute a large part of the hay of the season. And even this latter growth came to maturity, before the rains were over, and an opportunity was furnished for late hay-making. The second crop on well cultivated fields was very large. From the first of August onward, grass grew apace. Pastures became suddenly luxuriant. Fall feed has been more than sufficient for all our wants. And the extraordinary warmth of autumn has continued on into the winter months, On the third of December, at the time of writing this, store cattle, horses and sheep find abundant feed in the pastures and fields,.and weather mild enough for their out-door subsistance. And at this date, we know of no dairy stock which has been permanently housed for the winter. It would be difficult to estimate the amount of fodder, grain, roots, etc., which our farmers have saved through this beneficent order of Providence. The stock of hay, inferior and damaged

as it may be, will undoubtedly be more than sufficient for the wants of the season thus fortunately shortened

The importance and value of the hay-crop induces us to enter into a consideration of the various modes of cutting and curing it. The best grasses known to us are undoubtedly herdsgrass and red top. Clover serves as a good introduction to better grasses, on land just laid down-nothing more. There are heavy clay lands in some parts of the county, where red top never appears, or at any rate, never reaches maturity, even if the seed be carefully sown. On the lighter lands it constitutes one of the most useful and beautiful of our grass crops. Herds-grass, or timothy, is however the recognized leading grass; that grass which yields the largest burthen of good hay on well-cultivated lands, and furnishes, when well-cured, the best fodder for our cattle and horses.

It is very important, therefore, that we should ascertain, so far as may be, the best time for cutting and the best mode of curing this valuable grass; so that it may furnish the feeder with the largest amount of nourishment for his animals. We are not now considering the kind of hay which will make the most milk, or is best adapted to calves, colts, and young stock generally, or will be the permanent food of sheep. We desire to learn if possible, that condition of herds-grass hay, which will supply the largest amount of those elements which make animal fibre, fat, bones, and muscle.

We do not think that hay which, when cured, bears a resemblance to " rowen," will do this. We have no doubt that animals fed on hay of this description will thrive well, when lavishly fed upon it. We have no doubt that cattle fed on such hay have a larger reserved capacity for consuming corn and other grain, than when fed on hay of a maturer quality. The capacity of cattle for consuming " rowen " seems to be unlimited. And it is generally understood that it is not a profitable or an economical kind of hay to feed; and that it requires a liberal additional supply of grain when it is used in the process of stall feeding.

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The great object of the feeder should be to have his hay in such condition, as to avoid an excessive amount of grain. The hay that "spreads the best" is the most valuable. A hundred weight of hay which will produce as much fat with a bushel of corn meal, as a hundred weight of hay of different quality will with two bushels, is certainly the more profitable for the farmer, whether he feeds his animals for labor or for fat. This no one will deny. That hay, moreover, which shrinks the least after cutting, and at the same time retains all its nutritive qualities, is the most profitable and desirable, to all who would make the most of their crops.

We think there is a period in the growth of herds-grass, when it reaches its maximum in this respect-when it contains all the elements it is capable of supplying the animal which consumes it. But this is not when it is half grown; when the head is half formed; when it has no well organized fibre to give it strength and consistency. It is not when it is in blossom. For at both these periods it is deficient in starch, and sugar, and gluten, the most important of its nutritive ele ments; and it abounds with water. It is in fact immature, and is in the condition of an unripe apple or potatoe, or any other plant, or fruit, or root, which is half-grown, and halforganized.

We do not mean to contend that grass should be " ripe" before it is cut; for the change which takes place in the stalk of all grasses which bear seeds or grain, when the seed becomes mature, and fit for reproduction, is such as to deprive them of a large portion of their nutritive elements, and to leave a large preponderance of woody indigestible matter.— The plant has then reached a period when its decay begins, and when its value consists very much in the seed which it has borne.

There is a period, however, when the seed is fully formed, and is yet"in the milk " as it is termed, during which grasses contain more nourishment, including that found in the stalk, leaves, and seeds, than at any other. This is the time when

we think herds-grass ought to be cut. It has then, "more heart in it,"-to use a common farming expression,-not only is the grass itself more thoroughly organized, but the seed also, which, in well grown herds-grass, is abundant, contains a large amount of nourishment, being equal, in this repect, to grain of any kind, weight for weight. Experience has taught us that grass cut at this period of its growth, and properly cured, makes hay of the highest quality. Cattle that have been fattened, with the smallest expense for grain, have been fed on such hay. We have seen horses, performing constant service, in good, hard, muscular, working, condition, as if supplied with corn, fed on such hay alone.

We are well aware that much of our grass stands too long, especially on large farms, where a great amount of hay is to be cut. This may render it necessary, in some cases, to commence cutting the grass before it is in proper condition. But even in such cases it is not the earliest cut, nor the latest which is the best. It is that, which, when cured, has neither the succulent weakness of rowen, nor the hard and woody fibre of straw; but that which has the firmness, and consistency, and color, and quality, which all men understand, who know by necessary experience and observation, what is the most nutritious and economical hay which they can purchase in the market.

CATTLE AND SHEEP.

The attention of our farmers is turned now more than ever to their cattle. There is an increasing interest in the question, what breed is best adapted to our soil, and in many places great improvements have been made. It begins to be more and more understood that size is not always a test of merit ; that quality is better than quantity; and that there is no more mistaken economy than an attempt to feed an animal on pastures unsuited to it. Compact, solid, thrifty oxen, cows whose boney structure does not overbalance their muscular, and which have not a superabundance of offal, sheep which are "heavy

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