58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and along the valley of the Housatonic, if I should not ob- 

 ject, I should hardly stand justified before my constituents 

 of the Housatonic Agricultural Society. If I understood 

 him right, he said that the top-dressing of grassland, either* 

 with stable manure or commercial fertilizers, was not an 

 economical operation. 



Mr. Taft. He referred to Bristol County, and not to 

 Berkshire. 



Mr. Wheeler. I did not understand him to make any 

 distinction between different sections of the State ; and I 

 desire an opportunity to protest against the Board of Agricul- 

 ture teaching that doctrine. We believe over there, along 

 the valley of the Housatonic, that we cannot put our stable 

 manure to better use than by fertilizing our grasslands with 

 it. Our grass — either in the form of hay, or as pasturage — 

 is our leading crop ; and, as I said, the experience of our lead- 

 ing farmers is, that the best use they can put their manure 

 to is to fertilize their grassland with it in the form of top- 

 dressing. 



Mr. Whitakek. Wise judges say, with regard to this 

 matter of top-dressing land, that it depends entirely upon 

 what kind of land we are going to top-dress. That is the 

 whole secret. If Mr. Slade and Mr. Wheeler would come 

 together and compare notes, I have no doubt they would en- 

 tirety agree. We quarrel half the time about things, simply 

 because we do not get our propositions fairly stated. If Mr. 

 Slade will state the kind of land that he would, or would not, 

 top-dress, and Mr. Wheeler state the kind of land that he 

 would top-dress, I think they would not disagree a single 

 particle. There is some land which I would not make the 

 attempt to top-dress, or, if I top-dressed it at all, I would do 

 it the fall following the season when it was seeded down. 

 If seeded down this fall, I would top-dress it next fall. I 

 would even go farther than that : I might seed it down in 

 August, and top-dress it in October. But one of the most 

 ridiculous things I know of is to top-dress worn-out grass- 

 land. The best thing you can do with such land is to turn 

 the old sod over, harrow it, put some fertilizer on«it, and seed 

 it down. When you have done that, you will have a crop 

 large enough to pay the extra expense of ploughing, and a 

 much better crop than if you attempted to top-dress the land, 



