GOING TO COLLEGE. 231 



business and social relations of life which forbid it, I would 

 to-morrow enter the Agricultural College and commence at the 

 foot of the lowest class. Old as I am, I believe I could learn 

 something, and I believe that it would do me good. 



Mr. Flint. Prof. Stockbridge has alluded, in his very 

 suggestive and admirable lecture, to certain teachings of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, and among others to the treat- 

 ment of lands that have been properly laid down, in such a 

 way as to leave the inference that the Board disapproved of fre- 

 quent ploughing and maintained that once laid down they had 

 better be left for the turf to thicken up and become fully set 

 with good nutritious grasses. I do not know to what particu- 

 lar essay or action of the Board he alludes, nor do I recollect 

 that any unqualified advice of that kind has ever been given 

 by the Board as one of its directions for the management of 

 the farm. 



Circumstances and soils differ so much that even if it were 

 true, here and there, that grass-lauds do better to remain as 

 they are, it would hardly do to lay it down as a rule of uni- 

 versal application. It is probably true, that with our imper- 

 fect modes of seeding, the use of so few of the many varieties 

 that are naturally to be found in an old field, the turf will 

 thicken up by the growth of many grasses that come into the 

 soil, in the course of time. This will for some years continue 

 to increase the yield, so that the field will appear to be grow- 

 ing better after it is laid down, especially if the soil is strong 

 and good, or naturally suited to grass. But this increase 

 must have its limit, even in the best of soils, without the 

 judicious application of manure. The profitable growth and 

 constant removal of grass and hay will lead to a depletion of 

 the soil as true as the laws of nature are fixed and immutable. 



But a large portion of our soils are not especially adapted 

 to grass. Good crops are grown upon them with constant and 

 increasing difiiculty and labor, and though the liberal applica- 

 tion of manure may keep them productive for a time, they 

 soon begin to "bind out'' as we say. The soil will get 

 filled up and crowded with the roots of twitch or couch grass, 

 or other objectionable permanent growths. We see instances 

 of this every day on our lighter and poorer soils, especially 

 where they are not often and liberally top-dressed, and this 



