PLOWS AND PLOWING. 295 



and if it 'is proper to bring it in here, I should be glad to hear 

 something said of the methods of working farms in this region. 



Mr. P, M. Jefferds of Foxcroft. It seems to me that Mr. Gur- 

 ney confounds cropping with ploioing. I believe there is such a 

 thing as fertilizing the soil by plowing, and observation last 

 winter in California convinced me of that more fully than anything 

 I had ever seen before. By plowing the ordinary drift soil, that 

 has always been considered barren, and allowing it to lie until the 

 next year, it will produce an abundant crop ; but if they plow it 

 and sow it the same season they cannot get a crop. This convin- 

 ces me that there is some virtue in plowing. 



Mr. Gurney spoke against plowing pasture lauds. 1 have a field 

 of some fifty acres. It was cleared of the forest about twelve 

 years ago, and produced good crops of hay for three or four years. 

 It was producing a good crop when I turned it to pasture. I have 

 not pastured it heavily, but it has turned to moss — what we call 

 "bear's grass." I would like to ask Mr. Gurney how he would 

 kill that bear's grass, and get a good sward for pasturage on that 

 land? 



Mr. Gurnet. I do not know. I am no farmer, only the son of 

 a farmer ; but it seems to me that there are fertilizers that will bring 

 in clover and other grasses, which will swamp that kind of grass. 



Mr. Jefferds. My experience is, that this bear's grass will 

 grow deeper and deeper until j^ou get a sod a foot deep, one solid 

 mass. Besides, I will ask Mr. Gurney how much it would cost to go 

 over that field with superphosphate or any concentrated manure ? 

 It would be pretty expensive. 



Mr. GuRXEY. Yes, but you have got to manure it, any how. 



Mr. Jefferds. No, sir. I will plow and sow it one year. I 

 began six weeks ago to plow the field, or about fifteen acres of it. 

 Next spring I will give it a thorough harrowing and seed it. It 

 will make grass so that I can get a ton to the acre for three or four 

 years, if I choose to mow it. 



The Chairman. What proportion of the surface is covered with 

 this bear's grass ? 



Mr. Jefferds. Perhaps three-quarters. In wet seasons white 

 clover will come up in spots in this pasture, but it will not amount 

 to much, and nothing good can grow much as long as that worth- 

 less moss is there ; everybody knows that. But by plowing early 

 in the season, and especiall}' in -such a season as this, avc derive 

 great advantage by exposing the soil to the air. Undoubtedly one 



