GRASS CULTURE FOR SELLING HAT. 333 



And having tried this experiment and proved its results upon 

 the soil of New Hampshire, which ia not so good as some that I 

 have seen in many parts of your State, I believe, in these days of 

 high juiced labor, the same system will do well for you. There is 

 one thing that 1 had for my advantage and which you must have 

 for yours. In both cases I farmed upon naturally good land, 'and 

 if I have any advice to give it is this : never attempt to farm as I 

 have related unless upon good land. 



If you have rToor land let it grow up to wood — at any rate don't 

 try to cultivate it with any expectation of making farming in 

 Maine profitable. Yon have good land enough, and that you may 

 have success with, if you will treat it as I have done. 



The pith and substance of all I can say upon this matter can be 

 put in very few words — Manure is cheaper than labor — and in 

 Baying this I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am not 

 now speaking in the interest of any manufacturer of commercial 

 manures. I simply give you my experience, as a farmer, in the 

 treatment of grass lands. 



One thing more I must mention which has been a wonderful aid 

 to me, and which may create a smile, but my story would be only 

 half told without it. I have placed great reliance upon the fertility 

 resulting from the decomposition of the sod turned over, and 

 which is the natural result of having the land full of witch-grass ! 

 In some investigations made in western Massachusetts upon land 

 much like mine, there was found in no acre of a large field less 

 than thirteen tons of vegetable organic matter, such as roots and 

 the matter pertaining to the sod, which, if turned under would be 

 equivalent to manure and help enrich the soil. 



My low ground is naturally herds-grass land ; upon that I gen- 

 erally put twelve quarts of herds-grass seed in the fall, and in 

 spring perhaps four quarts more. Observation would show if it 

 was needed and where to put it. But upon my high land I put 

 none at all. Year before last, the very first of August I plowed 

 four pieces of the highest land in my field, and a few days later 

 Hon. J. B. Lyman came up to see me with his family. He said, 

 "You have not seeded this piece." "No, 1 have fertilized it, but 

 don't intend to put any seed on it." " What do you expect to 

 get?" "Grass, and I expect it from the witch-grass roots under- 

 neath." Five or six weeks afterwards he came up again and 

 went out to see this piece and had to hunt some time to find it. 



