84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



November I had as nice a piece of barley as ever you sa-w 

 growing, just as green as it was possible to be ; and I was 

 feeding my cows green barley for fodder from that piece of 

 ground. But actually I can say, that, on the piece ploughed 

 in May, the sod was better rotted when I ploughed it up the 

 first of October and put in winter rye, than the other sod 

 was when I ploughed it up and put in barley. That is my 

 experience within a few days. 



Another thing in regard to applying manure late in tJie 

 fall. The question is, How late in the fall? Dr. Nichols 

 said, if you apply it in August or September, it will be very 

 liliely to dry up ; that is, taking it for granted that it goes 

 up. With all due modesty, I beg leave to differ from the 

 doctor in that. 



Mr. Flestt. If you will excuse me one moment, I did not 

 understand Dr. Nichols exactly so. Possibly you are right ; 

 but the way I understood him was this, — that the objection 

 to applying it so early was, that the grass would grow up 

 about it, and prevent its uniform diffusion over the soil, not 

 that it would be lost by evaporation. 



Mr. Whitaker. If that is so, I stand corrected. Of 

 course, Dr. Nichols's address will be published, and then we 

 shall have it just as he gave it. But I had that idea about it, 

 and it struck me very forcibly that applying manure in the 

 fall is like feeding animals when they do not want to be fed. 

 I believe in feeding every thing when it wants to be fed, 

 whether vegetable or animal: that is "the time to feed with 

 the best results. Now, what I was going to say in regard to 

 applying manure late in the fall was this: if you apply 

 manure just before it freezes, it will neither go up nor down. 

 If it goes any way, it will go up by mechanical action, not 

 by washing down, because the ground is frozen up. It will 

 stay there : that is one reason why I should not hesitate to 

 put on manure any time when the ground is frozen. And 

 while I admit that manure will wash, and wash very materi- 

 ally, on side-hills where there is no grass, it will not wash 

 where there is grass to retain it. Thirty or forty years ago, 

 when I went through the barns of farmers, I used to wonder 

 at their want of common sense in allowing the best part of 

 their material to be washed into streams, and finally buried 

 in the ocean, and then sending vessels over the surface of the 



