1 09 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



time the effects of every pailful was visible in great increase, and I am so well 

 satisfied of the great benefits to be derived from this kind of manure, that in 

 a new barn to be built another season, I shall have water-tight manure vaults, 

 with the yard so graded that all the wash from it will run into them, to be 

 pumped up into sprinklers, and applied to the mowing land." 



E. K. French, Chesterville. 



" Top-dressing is not extensively practiced by farmers in this town, but I 



am in favor of it, and have done something at it for several years. I believo 



it an economical way .to improve grass lands. "W hen my grass land gets run 



down, and has a smooth surfiice, I spread about ten (thirty-five bushels) cart 



loads of fine compost, made of marsh mud and lime, to the acre, which costs 



me about fifty cents per load. This will generally increase the crop from 



fifteen hundred per acre to thirty hundred weight, for about four years ; 



so that for one dollar and twenty-five cents worth of manure yearly, and 



twenty-five cents for laying it on, making one dollar and fifty cents, I get 



fifteen hundred weight of hay of an excellent quality, being a mixture of 



herdsgrass and clover. I have tried double the above amount per acre, but 



made a perfect failure of it. It brought up weeds, and the grass grew so rank 



that for two or three years it was good for nothing. I spread it invariably in 



the fall." 



Joseph Cargill, Newcastle. 



Anotlier question was : What do jou consider the principal defects 

 of the agriculture of your vicinity, and by what means within the 

 present ability of the farmers, may they be obviated ? Some of the 

 answers are : 



" This double question of yours is not in itself long, but to be properly 

 and fairly answered would require a reply in the style of an old-fashioned 

 sermon of points, with an immense salutatory, and considerable length of vale- 

 dictory ; not feeling competent to the full task, I will designate a few of what 

 I consider the principal defects of our agriculture. 'In the first place, we all 

 of us cultivate too much land — much more than wo have means to work thor- 

 oughly — we never deposit enough to warrant the drafts we are constantly 

 making upon our land bank ; consequently we are always overdrawn and out 

 of credit, and then we are, as a class, one-third of the year lazy, (it is truth) 

 and always short-sighted. The obviating means are evident to those who will 



admit the assertions." 



J. F. Anderson, So. Windham. 



M 



•' The principal defects of agriculture in this vicinity, are want of system, 

 and a better understanding of the business, and more thoroughly working the 

 lands. Neglect, and a want of care is the cause of a great portion of all the 

 failures in other business, as well as farming. Farming is carried on too 



