210 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of pasture. I think it an injury to feed off, unless thei'e is a 

 large growth, which is better to be fed off, so that it will not fall 

 down and heat the roots and kill them." 



Another says : " I feed my mowing lands in the fall and 

 think it is a benefit to the field in all cases where a top-dressing 

 is used, and of no injury to an old field that is ploughed once 

 in three or four years. Where a large growth of after-feed 

 remains on the land it is like mulching trees, kills the grass 

 roots and makes a grand shelter in winter for mice." 



A farmer of Hampshire county says : " I feed it off and then 

 top-dress it, and think it a benedt to the land, but should con- 

 sider it an injury if I did not top-dress." 



An experienced, practical farmer says : " I feed it off, but think 

 it an injury to the field to do so, and I should much prefer not to 

 feed mowing lands at all. Tlie grass holds in longer and is of 

 better quality. I feed it off because it is necessary to eke out a 

 comfortable support for my stock." And another: " To some 

 extent. I do not think it beneficial to the land to feed much 

 every year, nor very injurious to feed some ; but to feed close, I 

 deem highly injurious." 



A very experienced farmer of large observation, in Plymouth 

 county, says : " To some extent, I feed it off, not from choice 

 but convenience. The treading of the cattle is som3 injury, 

 and they feed on the best kinds of grass and leave the wild 

 grasses to extend the area of their growth. In my experience, 

 mowing grounds are kept in the best condition by taking off 

 the first and second crops with the scythe, and biennially dress- 

 ing with compost manures." 



Tliis accords with the experience of another practical farmer 

 who says : " My practice is to feed the after-growth or mow 

 it. To take all from the soil without returning an equivalent, 

 would be injurious. My custom is to top-dress my mowing 

 grounds with good compost manure, about fifteen cart loads to 

 the acre, once in two or three years — a portion of lots in one 

 year and a portion the next. Where the ground is not liable to 

 wash — carry the manure off — I prefer spreading the manure in 

 the autumn ; it is dissolved by the fall rains and winter snows, 

 and the grass is benefited in the early spring." 



An experienced farmer of Essex county says: "Farmers here 

 are in the habit of feeding off their mowing lands in the fallj 



