SECRETARY'S REPORT, 1^3 



would make after the root9 had two or three years' growth and then died. 



Have you ever estimated the amount of vegetable matter left in the soil, after 



a full clover crop had been grown and taken oflF ? If so, will you give us an 



idea of it?* 



Many of our best fixrmers are of opinion that it is decidedly the better way, 



all things considered, to seed down grass land, ivithout grain, in August or 



September, or in the spring — the seed to be sown, if possible, when the ground 



is Covered with anchor Jrost. This we consider just the nick of time to sow 



our grass seed, if not sown in the fall." 



E. G. Buxton, Yarmouth. 



" My present idea of the best preparation for grass, is three or four suc- 

 cessive seasons hoeing of manured crops, and then a generous allowance of 

 several different sorts of clean grass seed, sown with wheat. A greater variety 

 than the customary sowing of timothy and clover 1 deem of great importance 

 to insure a heavier, betterand more permanent grass crop. 



I generally sow grass seed in spring, from the 10th to the last of May ; 

 sometimes in the fall, about the 1st of S3ptember. For seed, to an acre, seven 

 pounds southern, and three pounds northera clover, four quarts red top, eight 

 quarts timothy or herds grass, and four quarts sweet-scented vernal. To the 

 above I would add, if the seed could be got readily, for upland, four quarts 

 orchard grass, and for low ground, substitute for the sweet vernal four quarts 

 foul-meadow." 



J. F. Anderson, South Windham. 



" All things being considered, I think it is best to follow a crop of corn or 

 potatoes, though I have had the best crops of grain and hay where I have 

 summer tilled and never planted, and it is my opinion that wheat is the best, 

 spring rye and barley next, and oats the worst grain, to seed down land 

 with. 



We seed down our grass land always in the spring ; our light land from the 

 20th to the 30th of April. Much of our land, however, is a clayey loam, 

 and in wet seasons, it is often as late as the 20th or 30th of May before we 

 get our grain in ; but I believe the earlier we sow our grass seed, the better. 

 We sow herds grass, and clover seed, and some times red top. Our usual quan- 

 tity of seed is about twelve quarts of herds grass and ten or twelve pounds of 



" * In an old pasture or meadow field, when plowed up, the living roots left in the 

 soil are equal to four limes the weight of that year's hay crop. If a ton and a half 

 of hay have beea reaped, then about sis toas of dry vegetable matter remain in 

 the soil in the form of roots. In the case of clover, at the end of the second year, 

 the quantity of dry vegetable mxtter left, in the form of roots, is equal to upwards 

 of one-half the weight of the whole hay which the clover has yielded. Suppose 

 there be three cuttings, yielding four tons of hay, then two tons of dry vegetable 

 matter are added to the soil in the form, of roots when the clover stubble is plowed 

 up."" — [Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry.] 



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