PLOUGHING UP AND EE-SEEDING. 209 



Massachusetts but what ought to be ploughed once in ten 

 years, sometimes as often as once in five years. The length 

 of time which a field should be allowed to remain in grass 

 without being ploughed up and pulverized depends on the 

 condition of the soil. 



I know this is heresy ; but I am going to give my reasons, 

 and then you may have your chance at me. I will tell you 

 what the trouble, in my judgment, is : When we turn over 

 our hay-fields and re-seed them with two kinds of grass, — 

 herdsgrass and clover, and perhaps a little redtop, — it takes 

 a long time to get them back into a fine condition. I have tried 

 it, and I found that apparently I had met with a great loss 

 by ploughing ; but when I seeded with a variety of seeds, 

 when I put in herdsgrass and clover and redtop and white- 

 clover ; when I put in orchard-grass and Kentucky bluegrass, 

 and a large variety of grasses, in two years I had a covering 

 as close as I had before, and the crop went right along upon 

 the land increasing every year. The reason why, apparently, 

 it did not benefit my land to plough it and pulverize it and 

 work it all to pieces was, that I did not do right when I 

 seeded down with simply two kinds of grass, herdsgrass and 

 and clover ; but I got a quarter more grass upon the land in 

 ten years by ploughing twice and re-seeding, without top- 

 dressing, than I got with the best top-dressing without plough- 

 ing.- Therefore I say, according to my observation, and I 

 think I have very good reason for it, that our grass-lands 

 should be occasionally ploughed up, pulverized, thoroughly 

 tilled and re-seeded. 



Now, if you will pardon me, I will occupy a moment or two 

 upon the question of the selection of soil for grass. I think 

 Mr. Hyde said that the best soil for grass was the soil for 

 corn. Another eminent writer has said the best soil for g-rass is 

 a clayey or moist soil ; that it is the more natural soil for grass. 

 It seems to me that the grasses are adapted to a cool soil, if 

 you understand what I mean by a cool soil. Corn and grass 

 (although corn is a grass, belongs to the family of grasses), 

 differ in their nature and in their origin. I speak now of the 

 finer and better grasses. Corn is a plant of tropical or semi- 

 tropical origin. It luxuriates in a warm, hot soil. You must 

 have a warm soil, either natural, or made so artificially by man- 

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