SECRETARY'S REPORT. 157 



same time, and opened his the second day and pxit it vip again — 

 his is now musty and mine entirely free from must. I consider my 

 clover (cured in this way) nearly equal to any hay in my barn. I 

 have tried the different kinds of horse rakes and think the revolving 

 rake much the hest. I think it saves me one quarter the labor in 

 raking. I am aware that many say hay should not be cut until it is 

 ripe, but my oxen and cows tell me a diiferent story ; they thrive 

 and give the most milk on the early cut hay ; and I think it spends 

 equally well ; and I find those same men that argue for ripe cutting 

 when they come to purchase want my first cut hay. I commence 

 haying the first of July, (this year the last day of June,) and I 

 regretted this year that I did not put on more help the first of the 

 season." 



By D. W. Dole, South Windham. 



"I prepare my ground, for grass, by planting first year w^ith 

 potatoes, with plaster in the hill ; second year to corn, manuring 

 well ; the spring following, plow the ground as deep as it v/as 

 broken up, thus mixing the soil and manure well together, and 

 harrowing until it is mellow. In seeding down, people are apt 

 to think too much of the grain crop, and put on too much seed, 

 thereby preventing the grass seed from growing. In seeding down 

 with grain, one and one-half bushels of oats, or other grain in pro- 

 portion, is sufficient for an acre, to insure a good catch of the grass 

 seed. I have found one peck of herdsgrass and six pounds of clo- 

 ver seed suflQcient for an acre. Sowing too large quantities of 

 gTass seed has not a good effect. It swards the ground so thick 

 that the herdsgrass and clover die out for want of room. Herds- 

 grass having a bulbous root, with numerous small fibrous roots 

 that spread from two to six inches, thereby di'awing nourishment 

 for the stalk, requires room. Clover, too, has a large tap root that 

 don't like to be crowded, but they grow admirably together, for 

 the clover is short lived, and when it dies makes the herdsgi'ass 

 heir to all its estate, land, roots and all. 



Redtop and fowl meadow grow best on lov*"- land, where they 

 cover the ground with a thick sward that kills out other grasses, 

 and therefore should not be sown with herdsgrass or clover. They 

 seem to be natural with us on lowish lands and give good crops of 

 hay for many years in succession, without any cultivation. I pre- 

 fer to sow the seed after the grain is harrowed in, and then brush 

 it in with a brush harrow which will cover it sufficiently. I think 



