46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Buffinton. That is my rule. In 1857, my father had 

 an acre covered with stone. He wanted to clear that up, and 

 he went to work and dug ditches eight or ten feet deep, and 

 filled them up with those stones. There is no real outlet for 

 the water from these ditches ; but I have never seen a year when 

 he could not get from two to two and a half tons of hay to the 

 acre from that field, or large crops of anything else he wanted 

 to raise. I want to know what the reason is. The water is 

 there under that land, and at the lower end of the field, water 

 will stand in a wet time. That is why I think the air has some- 

 thing to do with it. It seems to me there must be a circulation 

 of air among those large stones. The spaces must be filled 

 with something. 



We hear a great deal said, and read a good deal in the 

 papers, in regard to the time of cutting grass, and we are told 

 to cut it early. I want to know when that time is ; in what 

 state the grass must be. 



Mr. Johnson. I do not understand the gentleman as putting 

 that question to me, particularly. If he does, I will merely 

 say, that my opinion in regard to the proper time for cutting 

 grass is in Mr. Flint's last Report. 



Prof. Chadbourne. The only thing that I saw to object to 

 in what Mr. Johnson said in regard to the time of cutting 

 grass was, that he mentioned a certain time — about the twelfth 

 of July. Now, according to my observation, there is a great 

 difference in years in regard to grass, and I think if we are to 

 adopt any rule, it should have reference to the condition of the 

 grass, and not to a particular day of the month. I was glad to 

 hear him make the remark that we ought not to mix early and 

 late grass seed in sowing our mowing fields, because some 

 grasses come so early to maturity, that if we allow the field to 

 remain until the late grasses are ready to be cut, the early 

 grasses will be unfit to cut ; they will have gone to seed, and 

 will be little better than shavings. So I think we should speak 

 to that point — the condition of the grasses in regard to 

 flowering and seeding. My opinion and belief is, that the best 

 time to cut grass is just as it is blossoming ; you might say, 

 when it is well in blossom. The first thing a plant does is to 

 elaborate the material for producing its seed. With some 

 , ; plants, a year is spent in that work. We have an instance of 



