FERTILIZATION. 137 



grasses and coarse herbage should be eradicated, when it 

 should be well fertilized to give the tender grass-plants a 

 vigorous start-ofl", after which a small yearly outlay will 

 ensure two cuttings of good hay annually. 



Such acres will not only be a source of profit, but they 

 will be the farmer's pride, always to be looked upon with a 

 loving eye. 



But while it is well to have a few acres of this low or in- 

 terval land, producing hay either for home consumption or 

 a cash product of the farm, let us not overlook the acres that 

 lie on the sunny slopes, perchance it may be near at home, 

 close to the barn, acres that never yet have had the oppor- 

 tunity of responding to thorough cultivation and high ma- 

 nuring. I believe the possibilities of such an acre, adapted 

 to the cultivation of almost all the crops grown in ojir 

 climate, has never yet been fully told. 



But however liberally we may manure we must not expect 

 to reach the limits of fertility in a single year. Time is re- 

 quired to so incorporate all the particles of plant-food in the 

 soil that the best results may be obtained with all varieties 

 of crops. 



I have seen the site of an old homestead, torn down and 

 deserted for more than twenty years, yet the limits of the 

 old kitchen garden could be distinctly traced, not alone by 

 the adjacent tansy bed, the lilac hedge, and the lily's modest 

 growth, but by the richer verdure of the grasses. 



Having spoken of some of the means by which the fertil- 

 ity of our farms may be maintained and increased, allow 

 us a moment in recapitulation. . 



Keep more stock, either cattle, sheep or swine, or, if cir- 

 cumstances are favorable, all three. Keep them better than 

 ever before. Buy cotton-seed meal, corn meal, fodder corn 

 and swale ha}''. In purchasing feed for other kinds of 

 stock we must be governed by their varied conditions ; 

 always, however, feedinsf such kinds and quantities as .will be 

 keenly relished and thoroughly digested. 



If fertilizers are to be bought, buy good stable manure, 

 fine ground bone, good hard-w^ood ashes and muriate of pot- 

 ash. And when the honest manufacturer will sell these ele- 

 ments compounded as cheaply as the farmer can purchase 



