On the Manuring of Grass Land. 235 



My opportunities for reliable observations have been too limited 

 to enable me to affirm positively that this result uniformly attends 

 a summer application of manure ; but the cases with which I am 

 familiar leave little doubt on my mind that the result is a general 

 one,* 



Of course this objection, if well-founded, does not apply to 

 liquid manuring in summer. Where liquid manure is at com- 

 mand, every farmer will do well to remember the advice of the 

 Cheshire patriarch to his young disciple, " put it on all the year 

 round.'' 



The following admirable remarks may well close this part of 

 the subject : — 



" In the neigliboiirliood of large towns there are many meadows, whicli, 

 without being irrigated, are mown every year, and only fed between hay-harvest 

 and the next spring. These require frequent manuring to keep them in heart, 

 and, with this assistance, they produce great crops of hay every year. The 

 management of this grass-land is well understood in Middlesex. Sometimes 

 the meadows are manured with stable-dimg, which has been laid in a heap for 

 some time and been turned over to rot it equally. This is put on soon after 

 the hay is cut, and the rains of Jul}^ wash the dung into the ground ; but if a 

 very dry and hot summer follows, lictle benefit is produced by the dung, which 

 is dried up and most of the juices evaporated. A better method is to make a 

 compost with earth and dung, and, where it can be easily obtained, ^vith 

 chalk, or the old mortar of buildings pulled down. It is spread over the land 

 in winter, and in spring a bush-harrow is drawn over the meadow, and it is 

 rolled with a heavy roller. All this comjDost is scon washed into the gi'ound, 

 and invigorates the roots of the grass. It is better to put on a sltyht coating 

 <if this compost every year than to give a greater portion of manure every three 

 or four years, as is the practice of some farmers.^' 



A strong objection against early manuring exists in the minds of 

 the majority, and though it is really nothing more than an ignorant 

 prejudice, it will never be removed unless sJioicn to be wrong. 

 The objection can be heard in almost every assemblage of farmers 

 in the kingdom. I refer to the statement, " the manure will be 

 washed out of the land if put on too soon " — " too soon " meaning 

 before the time at which the plants require it, as evidenced by 

 their appearance above-ground. 



Most permanent grass is on strong land, and therefore the fol- 

 lowing experiment of Mr. Thompson is a conclusive answer to 

 the objection in almost all cases ; — 



" Expei-lment 4. — A strong clay soil. The apparent influence of lime in 

 aiding the decomposition of the salts of ammonia was borne in mind when 

 selecting a specimen of strong clay, and the one here experimented on had been 

 in grass for a great length of time, and not limed within the memory of man. 



* I quite agree with the author as to the importance of early mowing, and 

 consequently of early manuring ; but I cannot concur in his views on summer 

 manuring, as, after numerous trials, I am convinced that on strong land the best 

 time for applying farmyard manure to grass is immediately after the hay is off the 

 ground. The land will then bear carting over without injury, and the rapid 

 growth of the after-grass soon protects the manure from the sun and wind. — 

 H. S. Thompson. 



