SECRETARY'S REPORT. 215 



best farmers of Norfolk county says : " Either by ploughing, 

 rolling and sowing down grass seed and grain in September or 

 April, or ploughing in manure after removing the crop on old 

 ground, and cross plough in the spring, then spread and harrow 

 in guano, at the rate of three hundred pounds per acre, or a good 

 dressing of compost, and sow Rhode Island bent, or redtop and 

 white and red clover, with some variety of grain ; or by scari- 

 fying mossy ground, and sowing in grass seed and harrowing it, 

 then applying three hundred pounds of guano, or one bushel 

 and one peck of salt, or ashes from ten to twenty bushels, per 

 acre, harrow and bush the ground. Sow early in fall or spring." 



A farmer of this State who has lived and had a large observa- 

 tion in England, says : " Some farmers say the plough. But in 

 England, where old pastures are seldom broken up, I have 

 known extraordinary results from top-dressing with crushed 

 bones, more particularly on the large dairy farms in Cheshire. 

 I am sorry I cannot give you the quantities. A neighbor of mine 

 has harrowed an old, worn out pasture, dressed with a liberal 

 coating of Barrilla ashes, from six to seven cords per acre, and 

 *owed white clover and rolled it. It came out a beautiful pas- 

 ture. The brush harrow and roller applied to all grass land in 

 the spring will amply repay for the labor. Breaking and spread- 

 ing the cattle droppings on the pasture land is well worth 

 attending to," A farmer of Worcester county says in answer 

 to the sixteenth question of the circular : 



" This depends on the kind of land to be reclaimed. If it 

 can be ploughed I would plough it and plant it with potatoes or 

 something else to make it mellow and fine, and then sow it to 

 grass. If it is too rough or stony to plough, — which is the 

 case with a large share of the pasturing in this section, — but is 

 good, sweet, Farm land, I would feed it with sheep. I have 

 a pasture of this description, that a few years ago was cov- 

 ered with briars and bushes so thick that there was but very 

 little grass upon it ; I cut off the bushes and put on sheep 

 enough to eat every thing that grew upon it for four or five 

 years. They have killed all the briars and most of the bushes. 

 I have sowed some plaster of Paris, which is all I have done to 

 it, and now one acre is worth, and will produce more feed, than 

 three would ten years ago. I should say that my sheep have 

 always done well on this pasture. If the land is cold and 



