SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 



plants will languish, and they must be protected from close 

 feeding;" if the season should be wet, a heavy growth will follow, 

 and admit of pasturing freely. 



It may be and probably is a better and more thorough mode 

 of operation, to plant with corn or potatoes the first year, and 

 seed the next, applying a second dressing of manure. Both 

 modes may be tested at pleasure. 



The production of these grasses may be greatly promoted, 

 and the latter, in moderate quantities, indefinitely continued, 

 by occasionally top-dressing them with from one to two bushels 

 of plaster per acre ; or twenty-five bushels of wood ashes per 

 acre, where plaster refuses to operate. Irrigation with slight 

 manuring, in many places, produces favorable results. 



The committee learn, both from experience and inquiry, that 

 pastures devoted exclusively to the fattening of cattle, seldom 

 deteriorate, clearly because they are not cropped to the extent 

 of all they produce, and the cattle remain upon them both day 

 and night. 



The committee would suggest the following plan for the 

 renovation of such pasture lands as may be ploughed. 



Set apart four or five lots of convenient size ; plough and 

 plant No. 1 with corn, applying manure enough to produce a 

 good crop. The next year sow the same with wheat or barley, 

 and stock down to grass. Plant and treat No. 2 in the same 

 manner, and so continue, planting one lot and stocking down 

 one lot each year, until all are stocked down to grass. At the 

 end of six years the five lots will have been completely reno- 

 vated, and the same course commenced a second time. Thus 

 the system may be indefinitely continued, yielding an unbroken 

 succession of remunerating grain crops and pasturage of the 

 finest quality. 



In a single instance which came to the notice of one of the 

 committee, the quantity of grass produced by this mode of cul- 

 ture was, he believes, nearly quadrupled, while the quality was 

 improved in a much greater ratio. 



The committee are aware that many experienced cultivators, 

 whose opinions are entitled to the highest respect, are strongly 

 opposed to the practice of pasturing renovated lands until the 

 third year after seeding ; and they seriously question whether 

 any advantage results from ploughing such lands for the pur- 



