148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



elevation, or from the existence of ledges or large boulders, it is out 

 of tbe question to plow to advantage and which is yet capable of 

 yielding early, nutritive and sweet feed, we can adopt other means. 

 If they be overgrown with running junipers, bushes or weeds, let 

 them be cut clean, and after drying a few days, be burned, together 

 with any decaying logs or stumps, and the ashes spread around. It 

 is said that such cutting is most eifective in the month of August, 

 and the burning is of course best done on a pleasant and not very 

 windy day. A liberal supply of seeds, consisting of white and red 

 clover, and of redtop and other pasture grasses, should then be 

 scratched in with a stout iron toothed rake, or a light, sharp har- 

 row, bestowing a double dose of ashes (or manure) and seeds upon 

 any bare knolls. It will be found of decided advantage not to admit 

 cattle until at least the next season and somewhat late in the season, 

 as the pasture grasses generally do not arrive early at such degree 

 of maturity as to bear cropping without injury. Redtop in particu- 

 lar rarely amounts to much before the second and third years, and 

 all are much better for getting a good growth before being fed down 

 for the first time. If the bushes start again, it is needful that they 

 be cut repeatedly until they die out ; but for most bushes, rarely 

 will more than a second cutting be requisite. Sweet fern and brakes 

 are the most obstinate, but several cuttings the same season usually 

 destroy even these. Canada thistles are a great pest, and whether 

 in pastures or by roadsides, every farmer should contribute his share 

 towards their eradication. They should be mown when coming into 

 bloom — certainly before any seeds ripen, and repeatedly afterwards 

 the same season. It is averred by some farmers that when mown 

 just before a rain they rirely start again. However this may be, 

 sure it is, that they can bo eradicated by repeatedly cutting them 

 during one or two seasons, beginning when they are in the height 

 of their growth and vigor and following at intervals of a fortnight 

 subsequently. 



A few hours labor occasionally, may be spent to advantage on 

 pasture grounds, in spreading the droppings of cattle and horses. 

 If these be left as dropped, some plants are killed out, and those 

 adjacent shoot into a rank, coarse growth, which is so unpalatable 

 that cattle will not touch it until very hungry indeed ; but when 

 spread, an increased growth of sweet and palatable feed results. 



