198 BOAED OF AGRICULTUKE. 



therefore I am inevitably led to the conclusion, that in the 

 minds of the farmers of the State, the hay-crop is of little 

 value. 



I am led to believe another thing by this practice, which is 

 this : that lands which grow grass can suffer an amount of 

 injury, an amount of abuse, which in any other department of 

 agriculture would be considered ruinous, and yet that the hay- 

 crop will thrive under that kind of culture. And I find an- 

 other thing : that there is absolutely no need of any attempt 

 to bring our grass-fields into an}^ better condition. If they 

 are wet, it is well ; let them remain wet ; if they are cold and 

 sterile, it is well ; let them remain so. We have simply 

 nothing to do but to harvest the crop which Providence causes 

 to grow there. And where we find any attempts being made 

 to improve the quality of the hay-crop, or to increase its 

 quantity by the use of manures and fertilizers spread upon the 

 land, I am led to the conclusion that the best way is to ma- 

 nure them in the fall, at the latest possible moment before 

 winter shall freeze the manure in the yard ; dump it upon 

 the fields in heaps, and allow it to remain until the follow- 

 ing May ; or else the best way is to take the unfermented 

 manure from under the stable- windows, and spread that 

 early in the spring. If you are going to manure grass, 

 that is the best way to do it, judging by the practice of our 

 farmers. 



Another thing. Judging by the practice of our farmers, it 

 is not best to spread upon these grass-lands any other fertil- 

 izer but these j^ard-manures. Another thing : it is not best 

 to guard against injury to the grass-crop by any tramping 

 to which you may be inclined to expose it ; therefore, after 

 having mown your fields just as late in the fall as they show 

 any signs of growth, and having run the mowing-machine or 

 scythe just as close to the turf as you can make the machine 

 or scythe run, then the best way is to turn your stock on and 

 let them tramp, tramp, tramp ; whether there is anything 

 growing on the field or not makes no difference ; it is a good 

 place to put the animals, and let them run, without any idea 

 that the roots of the grass, in the frozen condition of the soil, 

 can be injured by any amount of tramping. Therefore, I say, 

 that judging by the prevailing practice, as I see it in the State, 



