2|2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to be an inch high, going over it with the Thomas' harrow works 

 admirably. It cuts up the weeds, and it so arranged that it never 

 can clog. It leaves the ground perfectly smooth, and destroys all 

 weeds without injury to the corn, and in a way that I have never 

 seen done by anything else. 



Mr. Poor. As our grass has been almost destroyed by the 

 grasshoppers and the drought, what would you recommend to 

 bring the land into grass again ? 



Mr. Gould. 1 recommend this very process. I should rely a 

 great deal upon top dressing. You have the old roots there, in a 

 very weak condition. If they are nursed, they will come into 

 vigorous growth ; and the earlier you begin the better. 



Question. What kind of top dressing would you use ? 



Mr Gould, that depends entirely upon the peculiarities of 

 your soil. A man is simply a quack who stands up in a meeting 

 of this kind, and pretends to say what is the best manure for any 

 particular soil. The great principle to be observed in manuring 

 is to restore to the soil the missing elements which were in it. 

 If there is a deficiency of lime in the soil, then calcareous manures, 

 chalk, lime and plaster, are the manures best adapted to restore it. 

 If the deficiency is in phosphates, give phosphatic manures; give 

 ground raw bone, give good superphosphate of lime ; give it 

 in any form that will restore phosphoric acid. If the deficiency is 

 nitrogen, give sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda, or anything 

 which contains it. First find out in what the soil deficient ; chem- 

 istry will give you light, but if you want to learn in a practical way 

 what mauure is best adapted to your soil, do as I recommended • 

 you to do to ascertain what kind of grass in best adapted to your 

 land. Measure off eight or nine square rods of your meadow or 

 pasture, and on one of them put phosphate, on another plaster, 

 on another ashes, on another lime, on another nitrate of soda and 

 so go on with the different kinds of manures the action of which 

 you want to investigate on the grass, leaving one of the squares 

 without any manure whatever. Mow off from each square rod on 

 the same day the amount of grass that has grown upon it and 

 weigh it in a green state. But do not decide yet ; let all be con- 

 verted into hay. Do it carefully ; do it with your own hands, if 

 necessary, only be sure that none of the hay from one of the 

 squares is mixed with that of another square ; then when your 

 grasses are thoroughly dried, (let them all be equally dry,) weigh 

 each portion, and the whole story is told you at once. If you find 



