222 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE- 



than five or six of ashes. Consequently I dropped out the ashes 

 and for seven years have been using chemicals. 



Now in regard to treating this land for a crop of grass. I 

 have told you the land was adapted for growing grass, grain or 

 potatoes, but as I am a breeder of Holstein cattle and not a po- 

 tato grower, I grow grain and grass to use at home on the farm. 

 And I would like to state right here that years ago I learned 

 that in order to live from a farm, one must produce something 

 to turn into money, for money we must have to pay the bills. 

 The nearer a finished product we can sell from the farm, the 

 greater the profit. 



I break up a section of this land in the fall, removing all the 

 loose stones. In the spring I thoroughly pulverize it, using 

 about five hundred pounds of chemicals to the acre, and sow it 

 to oats. After the oats are off in the fall I plow again. In the 

 spring I pulverize the piece until it is like a garden spot, this 

 time using from eight to ten hundred pounds of chemicals to the 

 acre, sowing oats and grass seed. As I am a great believer in 

 clover, I sow quite a per cent of clover seed, and have never 

 failed to get a good stand of clover. By using three hundred 

 pounds of chemicals to the acre the second spring, I get as much 

 hay the second year as the first. 



My home farm, section number two, is where I raise my corn 

 and practice a four-year rotation ; corn, oats and grass. The 

 manner in which this land is treated is this : The first year for 

 corn I break up a section in the fall, turning under a fair amount 

 of barn-yard dressing. In the spring I go over this section with 

 another light coat of dressing, and thoroughly pulverize it un- 

 til I am ready to plant corn, using a small amount of fertilizer 

 drilled in at time of planting. I want to impress on your minds 

 that this field of corn has thorough cultivation. After the corn 

 is taken off in the fall I plow this land and let it lie until spring, 

 then it is pulverized and sowed to oats and grass seed, and about 

 five hundred pounds of chemicals used to the acre. From land 

 treated in this way, I do not have any troitble to get two crops 

 of hay the first year, and with three hundred pounds of chemi- 

 cals used as a top dressing the second spring I get two crops the 

 second year. 



The section called number one, or the intervale, is kept in 

 grass practically all the time by top dressing with barn-yard ma- 



