152 BOARD -'OF AGRICULTURE. 



manure. I never plough a piece of land without putting 

 manure on top, and harrowing it in ; then, if I sow grain, I 

 harrow it in; if grass-seed, I brush it. My way is to put 

 fodder-corn into this old land, then fall rye or spring rye. I 

 get that off the first of July, and then put in a crop of Hun- 

 garian grass, and cut in September, about a ton and a half to 

 the acre ; the spring following, I follow that with barley, and 

 sometimes clover, and sometimes grass-seed. 



I tried the experiment, this spring, of sowing clover, 

 orchard-grass, July oat-grass, and perennial rye-grass ; and I 

 had an excellent catch, although I sowed the grass-seed with 

 barley. But remember that I put my manure in. I can't 

 say how successful I am going to be with it, until another 

 year. But, if I put in barley, I will tell you another thing I 

 do. I do not believe in putting in a reasonable amount of 

 manure when I first seed down, and allow the grass to grow 

 until it has about died out, and then try to bring it up. I 

 believe in giving the land manure, as you would give milk 

 to a calf, if you wanted to bring it up, — give it early. If 

 we take off crops, we must put something back to feed the 

 crops. The idea goes from one to another, that this thing 

 and that thing is an exhauster of the soil. Let me tell you 

 that you cannot have phosphate of lime and nitrogen in your 

 barn and" in your crops at the same time. Whatever we put 

 into our ground, we put in for the purpose of taking off the 

 crops, and feeding them to our cattle. The one object of 

 agriculture is to feed and clothe and make up men. When 

 it has done that, it has completed its circle, and comes round 

 to build up another generation of men, which, I hope, will be 

 wiser and better than we have been. 



I believe in sowing grasses that will bloom about the same 

 time ; so that we can get one crop out of the way before we 

 start on the later crop. I think that is an excellent idea, and 

 one that ought to be promulgated. We have had all our 

 grass-fields come in about the same time, and it has been im- 

 possible to cut all the grass when it was in its best condition. 

 We have been obliged to cut it either too early or too late ; 

 and, of the two evils, I should prefer late cutting. But, if 

 we sow those grasses that blossom and come to perfection in 

 succession, we can commence our haying season about the 

 middle of June, and wind up about the 15th of July ; and 



