334 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Qcestion. What amount of superphosphate do you apply to 

 the acre ? 



Mr. Lawrence. A man should use judgment in regard to that. 

 If the main object is to get a catch, and the land was low and rich 

 enough to send the grass along after it was cut, I would put three 

 or four hundred pounds. If it was high land and not so rich, I 

 would put double that amount. I have experimented with Peru- 

 vian guano and ground bone, and while I have got the best results 

 from the superphosphate, I have had also good results from both 

 the others. I plow the witch-grass land six inches deep. 



Question. Is your grass mainly witch-grass ? 



Mr. Lawrence. My high laud is all witch-grass land. 



Question. You sow no seed ? 



Mr. Lawrence. None upon the witch-grass land It is a fact 

 that superphosphate and bone will bring in clover somewhat, but 

 I sow no seed on the high land. I think any one who has had 

 witch-grass during the last two or three years of extreme drouth, 

 will incline to the opinion that he don't want it out of his grass 

 field. I will further remark, that as you have listened to my state- 

 ment, it is my intention, if I live until another year, to continue 

 having farmers' field days upon my farm. And I assure you, in 

 return for the courtesy which your Board has extended to me, 

 when I have another field day I shall invite the members of the 

 Maine Board of Agriculture to be among my guests. 



Secretary Goodale delivered the following address on 



The Changes in Farming ; which have taken place, and which 



should be made. 



We live amid constant changes. No truer utterance was ever 

 made than that, "the fashion of this world passeth away." Each 

 generation in its turn witnesses new conditions of life ; and, on 

 the whole — I am happy to believe — there is progress, and progress 

 everywhere. Agriculture shares in it; and if in agriculture pro- 

 gress seems to be slower than in some minor pursuits, is it not 

 easily accounted for on the wel} known principle that large bodies 

 move slowly ? Agriculture embraces a larger body of men than 

 any other. Its fields of labor occupy greater breadths than any 

 other, and to a considerable extent its votaries are isolated from one 

 another, and hitherto, at least, have received less mutual benefit 

 from each other's knowledge and assistance than those engaged 

 in other pursuits. 



Yet progress is plainly visible. Progress towards knowledge, 



