FERTILIZATION. 149 



my milk. I have bought about thirty acres of pasture land 

 which did not come into the original form. I have made it 

 pay, and I say that a worn-out farm can be brought up, with 

 judicious management. I think that the manure in great 

 measure is lost, in many cases, by the mode of appl3ing it. 

 By putting the manure on the sod, letting it soak in with 

 spring rains and turning under a green crop at the time the 

 manure is partially through that sod and ready to receive the 

 corn roots, your crop gets the full benefit of the manure. 

 The dry est season I have had did not affect my corn. It will 

 stand a drought under that mode of cultivation. 



I think that we lose a great deal of the value of our 

 manure by not saving the liquids. I have always been 

 very careful about using absorbents to take up all the liquid 

 manure. I perhaps have an advantage over many here in 

 having so much sea-drift. I gather it and put it into the 

 cellar for bedding. 



Mr. Paul. Do you apprehend any loss from the exposure 

 of your manure ? 



Mr. Edson. No, sir, I never saw any loss. I think it is 

 the best mode of applying it. They say " the proof of the 

 pudding is in eating it," and I have told you my experience. 

 The object of my farming is to get hay. I can get a good 

 price for hay, and there is always a market for it. 



Question. Do you get four tons to the acre at one 

 mowing? 



Mr. Edson. No, sir. I had a small piece that I thought I 

 would try and see what I could do with. I ploughed in all 

 the manure I could. I sowed oats the first year and the second 

 year. Then I sowed it down to grass seed in the spring and 

 cut it green, and kept a horse one year with what I got 

 from that field. I cut the oats early ; it happened to be a 

 good catch ; and when I came to haul them into the barn, I 

 did not weigh them, but I hauled seven single horse-cart 

 loads the first cutting, and the second cutting I hauled three. 

 I can haul enough to make half a ton. It is a pretty big 

 story, but that is the fact in the case. It was a clay soil, 

 tenacious, and would hold all the manure I would put on to 

 it. That was six years ago, and the field feels the eifect of 



