140 BOARD OF AGRICULTCRE. 



Applications of stable manure to light soils have frequently proved 

 of less benefit than composts containing claj, loam and vegetable 

 matter. "When stable manure is applied alone, it should be in 

 autumn, and upon heavy loams, XJnfcrmented stable manure di- 

 rectly from the barn-yard, applied in spring, is often unsatisfactory 

 in its effects, besides which, it is apt to be left in lumps, which be- 

 come dry and are liable to be raked up ■with the next crop of hay. 



In every instance which has come to my knowledge where top- 

 dressing has been judiciously and fairly tried, satisfactory results 

 have followed, and I cannot but urge its more general adoption in 

 practice. 



Perhaps upon no subject connected with grass culture have we 

 more to learn, or in connection with which there seems room for 

 greater improvement, than with regard to the mixtures of seed to be 

 sown. The almost universal practice is to sow only timothy, red- 

 top and clover, and while it is readily admitted that these are the 

 best if we are to be confined to three, it is equally certain that a 

 judicious mixture of more kinds would result in greater productive- 

 ness. We may profit by the teachings of nature in respect of this. 

 Let the turf of a rich old pasture be carefully examined, and we 

 almost invariably find a far greater number of species than in lands 

 recently laid down to grass. When we reflect that each species has 

 its own peculiar requirements and abstracts its constituents from 

 the soil in different proportions from any other, and some perhaps 

 requiring what is not wanted at all by others, we can easily under- 

 stand how with a larger number we may obtain a larger product, 

 and this too with no greater practical exhaustion of the soil. 



And another advantage accrues which is worth bearing in mind, 

 namely, the greater variety of food thus furnished. All feeding 

 experiments show that animals thrive better on a given amount of 

 nutritive matter furnished in a variety of foods, than if given in a 

 single form, as in hay, roots or grain alone ; and for the same reason, 

 hay of equal quality in other respects, is better if made from mixed 

 grasses. 



Again, mixtures should undoubtedly vary according to the pur- 

 pose in view, whether for mowing, for pasturage, for soiling, or for 

 an alternate crop. If for mowing, we should aim to have as thick 

 a bottom as possible, and the grasses of various bights, and in this 

 way each may be well developed, according to its kind, and the ag- 



