METHODS OF MANURING. 91 



tility of their farms by top-dressiug. They sell their hay — 

 the land in fact is natural grass laud — and haul back manure 

 from the city, and top-dress. 



Mr. Briggs. In order to give the question another turn, 

 I will say that it is well known in the State of Maine that our 

 seasons are so short that it is almost impossible to mature 

 crops. I will give you a little idea of my own experience. I 

 plow my ground in the fall and apply my manure, and pul- 

 verize the ground well ; l)y so doing I get on to my ground 

 from ten to twelve days earlier in the spring than I otherwise 

 could. 



QuES. Do you apply your manure in the fall? 



Ans. Yes, sir, before the fall rains. 



QuES. Am I to understand by that, that all the manure 

 you make afterwards, you keep until the next fall? 



Ans. I sometimes use a small portion on root crops. I 

 usually keep the manure in the barn cellar until the next fall. 

 I would rather make a sure thing of the crop than an unsure. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. John Johnston, w^hom I have quoted 

 several times, commenced to farm near my place with only 

 $100 or 1200, and he is now worth $1,000,000. I go there 

 and see him occasionally, and he tells me to go ahead in the 

 course I am pursuing on my farm. His plan of managing his 

 manure is this : He keeps it in his barn cellar as you do, for 

 his next crop. He makes much manure from sheep, of which 

 he keeps as many as one thousand. In the fall he draws out 

 his manure that he has to spare, and spreads it as top-dressing 

 on his grass land. He says I am doing right, and advises me 

 to go ahead. 



Mr. Briggs. I think if any farmer will try my plan of 

 using manure, he will adopt it as a regular practice. 



The Chairman. I think perhaps Mr. Briggs may be right. 

 I will state a little case of my own, in regard to manure. I 

 had some manure, perhaps it was three-fourths straw. I told 

 my man to haul it into the field and spread it on the grass, 

 which he did. Well, sometime in the spring I went to look 

 at it and it looked to me just like so much straw. I thought 



