lOg BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



which is the main source of the supply of nitrogen, as is the case 

 with grain lands, which are in additition receiving the manure of 

 the farm ; every farmer ought to desist from the wasteful and heed- 

 less practice which they have hitherto followed, and adopt a system 

 in the future more in accordance with the teachings of nature, as 

 interpreted by science and confirmed by practice. They may do 

 so with the full assurance that it will increase both the quantity 

 and quality of their crops, and greatly augment their pecuniary 

 returns. Grass lands laid down in the fall in the manner I have 

 described will generally give a fair crop of hay the ensuing sum- 

 mer ; but the season after this is the most trying year for the 

 young meadow. Many of the young plants are found to have 

 died out, and their places are supplied by noxious weeds, while 

 the good plants that are alive look feeble and sickly. This is 

 caused by the solid packing of the earth around the roots of the 

 grass — they can hardly penetrate into the hard soil, nor can the 

 air readily find access to them ; the worms have not yet been 

 attracted in sufficient numbers to make a proper mould, or to fill 

 the soil with air galleries, nor have successive crops yielded their 

 debris to the soil. In this condition, the food which the plant 

 cannot find below must be supplied to it from above. Early in 

 the second spring, if we cannot obtain a supply of well rotted 

 barn-yard manure, which after all, is the best thing, we may mix 

 together two parts of Peruvian guano, one part of Plaster of Paris, 

 and one part of wood ashes, and apply the mixture to the meadow 

 at the rate of 400 lbs. to the acre, which will be found to in- 

 vigorate the meadow and repress the growth of weeds ; and what 

 is of almost equal importance, it will increase the activity of the 

 worms. A very considerable difference of opinion exists amongst 

 farmers with regard to the disposition of the first crop of grass 

 from a newly seeded meadow. Some maintain that it should be 

 pastured the first year by small stock, such as sheep and calves, 

 in order that the land might obtain the benefit of their widely 

 diffused droppings; but so far as my own observation and experi- 

 ence go, I am decidedly of opinion that it should be mowed and 

 not pastured, for the young grass has not yet become firmly 

 rooted, and much of it will be torn out by the roots by the sheep 

 and cattle, leaving vacancies for the weeds to find lodgment, while 

 the uniform action of the scythe over the surface causes the grass 

 to tiller, and the sward is invariably thicker and finer. You will 

 always find in your pastures, that the cattle will manifest a pro 



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