90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



proportions and in such forms as are best calculated to build up 

 all the tissues which are essential for the manifestations of animal 

 life. They extract earthy and saline ingredients from the rocks, 

 hydrogen and oxygen from the rains and dews, carbon and nitro- 

 gen from the soil and the atmosphere, and mingling these together 

 by a subtle and mysterious vital chemistry which man can never 

 imitate, they lay these treasures at his feet in a form exactly fitted 

 for his purpose. Very precious, therefore, is this promise of the 

 Almighty, " I will send grass into thy field for thy cattle that thou 

 mayest eat and be full." 



To treat in any fitting manner a subject so Broad and vast in 

 its various aspects, would require, at the least, a full course of 

 lectures, rather than a single one. I propose, therefore, upon the 

 present occasion simply to lay before you some of the con- 

 siderations which should be taken into view in the sowing of arti- 

 ficial meadows ; for which purpose I must assume that you are 

 already familiar with the correct names and the leading qualities 

 and characteristics of the meadow grasses ; (using this term in 

 the sense in which it is generally understood throughout the agri- 

 cultural world, and not in the local and inaccurate sense in which 

 I am told it is sometimes used in Maine, when applied to the 

 aquatic grasses of natural wet meadows.) 



A practical examination of these grasses will show that they 

 vary much in their characters, their habits and their nutritive 

 values ; some of them flourish on sandy or rocky soils, while they 

 speedily perish on wet ones ; others flourish vigorously in wet 

 soils while they speedily die in a dry one. Some will grow in 

 alkaline soils, and of these a portion require a soil abounding in 

 potash, another needs lime, and another can only grow in the 

 presence of soda. Some of the grasses flourish most in the bright- 

 est sunlight, while others rejoice in the shade, some are best 

 adapted for hay, others useless for hay are extremely valuable for 

 pasture. Some lands arc forced into great luxuriance by one 

 kind of manure, which will operate almost like a poison upon other 

 varieties. One kind abounds in that species of nutriment which 

 strengthens the muscles, another, ill adapted and indeed quite 

 inoperative for strengthening the muscular tissues, will lay on fat 

 rapidly ; another which is quite deficient in both these respects is 

 rich in those elements which serve to support respiration and 

 furnish the fuel from which animal heat is eliminated. A variety 

 of grass possessing these qualities in a very slight degree may yet 



