302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



hides from South America. It couKl not be used for anything but 

 manure, and g-eutlemen have applied it with great and permanent 

 advantage to the land, at the rate of say ten bushels or more to 

 the acre. 



QuESTiox. What I mean is, if you covered the knolls all over 

 with salt, would it not kill the moss and grass, and everything 

 else ? 



Mr. Gold. Yes sir ; bxit after a time I think better grasses 

 would come in. 



Question". Do you irrigate the land that you keep for perma- 

 nent pastures ? 



Mr. Gold. Not much of it. I should irrigate if I had oppor- 

 tunities to do so, but I have not. With irrigation, there is no need 

 of much top-dressing. 



Mr. GuRXEY. I would like to say a word in confirmation of 

 what Mr. Gold has said in reference to pastures. You cannot 

 apply one rule to all places. I have seen pastures that have never 

 been plowed, and yet have improved every year ; I have seen pas- 

 tures and have had pastures that would keep a cow through the 

 season, and mow from ten to tweve hundred pounds of hay on 

 spots where the cow had not fed ; and I have seen mowings that 

 would give two or three tons to the acre, and all done by top- 

 dressing. Plaster and salt were applied to the pastures with ex- 

 cellent results. I have seen salt applied that cost seventy cents a 

 bushel at the depot. Perhaps ashes are better than anything else 

 to the extent that they can be had. 



Secretary Good ale. It occasionally happens that we do not un- 

 derstand one another, because we use terms to which our hearers 

 attach a different meaning from what we intend' to convey. When 

 Professor Fernald told us what Mr. Willard said about pastures in 

 New York, we might likely have in our mind's eye pastures such 

 as we often see. Whereas, there is in truth almost as much difter- 

 ence between the pastures of Ilerkimer county and the average 

 pastures of Maine as there is between swamp meadow and upland 

 meadow. In that county, and in fact throughout that whole dairy 

 district you will find the richest and best lands devoted to pasture; 

 and as a general rule you will find a smaller surAiee of pasture 

 support a cow well through the season of grazing than is required 

 of mowing land to supply liay for the winter feed. With us the 

 rule is the other way, and although our mowing lands yield less 

 than theirs, and our winters are longer, the cattle roam over more 



