TRANSACTIONS. , 243 



a load of leached ashes brought home from a village after 

 the delivery of a load of ^ood or hay, would (so far as 

 teaming was concerned) he so much clear gain. These 

 materials could be composted at any odd time during the 

 summer or autumn, and then carried to the pasture in 

 November or December, when the ground was frozen, as a 

 little old hay or straw thrown over the compost heap and 

 confined by a few poles, would effectually prevent its freez- 

 ing to damage its shovelling. Who will say, in view of 

 these suggestions, that one, two or five acres of pasture 

 lands may not be treated yearly with a coat of compost 

 without interfering at all with the ordinary labors of the 

 farm, and which shall be returned four fold in the quantity 

 of milk and beef? 



To the reflecting mind, the wants of our grazing lands 

 are evident. In the early settlement of the country, our 

 pastures were rich in the elements of fertility from the 

 presence of large quantities of vegetable .and mineral de- 

 posits from the fallen leaves of centuries, and which a 

 continual cropping of the herbage and removal in the form 

 of milk and beef has now reduced to a mere moiety. This 

 being the case, our study should evidently be, to restore 

 the sajue elements of fertility again to the soil as fast as 

 it can be done profitably. No better course suggests itself 

 to my mind, than to supply the vegetable matter in muck 

 or peat, and the mineral, in lime or leached ashes. These 

 properly composted, as before observed, and after sowing 

 a reasonable quantity of grass seeds, spread upon the pas- 

 ture in early spring and tlioroughly harrowed with a sharp- 

 toothed crotch harrow, will show results that will surprise 

 any one, I think. 



Following such a course as this for a few years, the 

 farmer might reclaim from a sour, sterile state, a large 

 pasture, and reinstate h, if not in its pristine vigor, in such 

 a condition that its effects would be visible for vears. — 

 And why should not such labors be expended on our pas- 



