200 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



can grow rich, no man's farm is supporting itself or liim where 

 the grass-crop is depreciating. That is the way the Board of 

 Ao^riculture have talked in relation to the value of the ffrass 

 and hay crops. 



We have said, again, that so great is the value of the hay- 

 crop of the country, that we can aiford to select our choicest, 

 our sweetest, our most fertile soils for the production of grass 

 and of hay. We have frequently attempted to describe the 

 character of the soil best adapted to the production of grass, 

 and here, I must say, the Board of Agriculture are somewhat 

 at loggerheads. One says a good grass-soil is a good corn- 

 soil ; another says a good grass-soil is a cold, and wet or 

 moist soil. This is the only point about which we disagree ; 

 but we are all agreed in saying that the best soils, the most 

 fertile soils, we can afford to devote to the production of this 

 crop. And again, following the record, I find we have said 

 this : that we can afford not only to take our best soils, but 

 we can afford to bring those best soils up to the very highest 

 point of fertility, and keep them in grass, keep them rich, 

 keep them fertile, for the express purpose of producing hay. 

 We have said again, that we can not only afford to do this, 

 but we can afford to do it by the use of the best manures ; 

 that we can afford to procure fertilizers to make up for the 

 waste which is continually taking place in the deportation of 

 hay from the fields, and then we can afford to use compost 

 manure, — mark the word ! The Board of Agriculture have 

 said we can afford, and must use, year by year, — not every 

 year, but year by year as occasion may require, — complete 

 top-dressings of first-class compost ; that this compost should 

 always be applied in the fall of the year, and that the earlier 

 we apply it in the fall the better for the crops ; and for sev- 

 eral reasons as the Board have claimed. In the first place, 

 because it nourishes the grass at that season, gives it a healthy 

 and vigorous growth in the fall, makes it strong to endure 

 the frost of winter, and seems to fit and prepare it for a more 

 vigorous and perfect growth in the spring of the year. In the 

 second place, it acts as a mulch for the young grass, and thus 

 serves to protect it from injury by the winter's frost. 



We have said, again, that there is such a thing as being too 

 avaricious in regard to the crops which grow upon our mow- 



