GRASS CULTURE. 165 



and leached and unleached ashes, quick lime and salt, and by 

 gathering up the debris from our farms, the leaves from the forest, 

 muck from the muck beds, the surface soil that has been washed 

 in by the side of the road, and mixing them in suitable proportions, 

 we can get a better, cheaper and more efficacious manui'e than the 

 stable manure which farmers buy so dearly. 



Clover is one of our cheapest and best manures, for it has the 

 power of absorbing some of those elements from the atmosphere 

 and from the soil, in some way which may not be explicable, which 

 produces the most favorable results upon the growth of grass. 

 Why, then, should we spend so largely for stable manure when 

 we can buy clover seed for a shilling or twenty cents a pound, as 

 we usually can? If there is any reliance to be placed in human 

 testimony, you can get thus that condition of soil which will make 

 your grass stouter and larger than you can get it in any other 

 way as cheaply. 



One word further in regard to the crop of the first year, After 

 having prepared my ground in the manner just described, I decide 

 upon my crop. I usually assign one piece to potatoes, another to 

 beans, raangel-wurzels, carrots and parsnips. For each and all, I 

 adopt the same method. First, furrow the land, and if I plant 

 potatoes, mix about half lime and half ashes, and sometimes a 

 third each of lime, plaster and ashes, or two-thirds ashes, as the 

 case may be, only be sure to put on a liberal supply of that kind 

 of dressing ; I then have a man drop that in the furrow, a hand- 

 ful at a time, about a foot apart, the man who drops the seed fol- 

 lows, and then another man covers it ; so that the land really 

 gets, the first year, another quantity of dressing put in the hill. 

 With corn or beans, the same is done, except that I use Billings' 

 Corn-Planter that drops the seed and the fertilizer together. 



Mr. Sweet. I will state my experience in reclaiming what we 

 call run-down mowing, without plowing. The soil is rocky loam, 

 which has been pretty well cleared of stone ; the surface is smooth 

 enough for a mowing machine, but I have some land which pro- 

 duces but a small crop of hay. I have come to the conclusion 

 that the cheapest way for me is to top dress. I don't believe in 

 buying stable manure, consisting of sawdust and shavings, and 

 paying for bulk instead of value. Ashes have been the best dress- 

 ing for me, in proportion to the cost. The next is barnyard manure, 

 well pulverized ; put it on in the fall, just before the snow comes. 

 I have had wonderful effects from that. 



