GRASS CULTURE. 163 



grasses require most ; it is that element which wheat is most like- 

 ly to lack, and which I believe can be supplied by clover, to the 

 extent of its ability, a great deal cheaper than in any other way. 



But I have wandered from the purpose for which I rose. It 

 was simply to elicit the experience of those who have tried rotting 

 turf as a principal manure for grass. My attention was first 

 called to it, ten or twelve years ago, during a trip in Somerset 

 county. I think Mr. S. W. Coburn of Bloomfield, informed me 

 that he had practised it very successfully. Since then, I have 

 made frequent inquiries, and have not found the practice to pre- 

 vail to any great extent, but those who have tried it tell me it is an 

 excellent method, and gives highly satisfactory results. If it is ' 

 as good as I think it is, and as it has proved in many cases, it 

 might save a great deal of hard labor, and give us larger crops. 



Dr. Garcelon. As no one responds directly to the inquiry of 

 the Secretary, I will state my own mode of preparing the soil for 

 a grass crop. 



Gentlemen who have been here during the summer, know very 

 well, that to a great extent, we have a clay soil in this vicinity, 

 and it is a very important point with us to know how best to pre- 

 pare that soil so to secure the largest amount of grass. Five or six 

 years ago, I commenced on a farm which had been taken up about 

 a hundred years ago, cultivated for thirty or forty years, and then 

 suffered to run down. A large surface grew up to bushes, pines, 

 birches, &c. I cut off that growth, and have been engaged in 

 getting the land into cultivation as best I could. My method has 

 been this : As soon as the stumps were far enough decayed to 

 pull out readily, I removed them, and plowed the land. I then 

 spread upon the turf, before harrowing, or after running over it 

 with a common spike harrow, just to level off the surface, so that 

 I can drive more easily over it, a liberal coating of stable manure — 

 say about twenty common ox-cart loads to the acre. Having 

 spread this upon the surface of the ground, I then take a Share's 

 harrow and pulverize and mix the soil with the manure, as 

 thoroughly as possible. Having done that, I next spread upon 

 the surface, a hundred bushels of leached ashes to the acre. I 

 then go over the ground with a Nishwitz harrow, an instrument 

 which I cannot too highly recommend, for it will cut up the little 

 sods, the lumps of manure and the lumps of clay, in a manner that 

 I never saw equalled by any other implement. I drive over the 

 ground with this harrow until it is in a suitable condition to raise 



