MANURING MOWING LANDS. 251 



valuable to clover. To these should be added animal or vegetable manures. Some farmers 

 apply theso fertilizers in the fall, some in the early spring when -the grass just begins to start, 

 others apply them just before the first rains fall after the grass has been mowed, that the rain 

 may wash the soluble matters into the roots; in such a case, the portions that remain, un- 

 dissolved are soon covered by the growing vegetation, and are absorbed more gradually. 

 The best time for applying barn-yard manure is in the fall, since the frost will crumble the 

 lumps and render them partially pulverized by the spring, while the manure serves to protect 

 the roots through the winter, and its warmth aids in securing an early and vigorous start 

 in the spring. The snow, in dissolving, aids in carrying the fertilizing elements down to the 

 roots, which is a very great advantage that cannot be secured by applying it in the spring, 

 while the soft soil will also cause the turf to be badly cut and injured by the wheels of manure 

 spreaders or other implements for carting, if applied in the spring. The following is the opin 

 ion of Mr. Alex. Hyde, of Massachusetts, respecting the top-dressing of mowing lands: l( We 

 have found a compost made of muck and leached ashes, in proportion of six or eight bushels 

 of muck to one of ashes, an excellent fertilizer for grass. The wood ashes furnish the in 

 organic food in great variety, while the muck supplies the vegetable matter, and renders the 

 soil light and porous, ready to absorb the gases of the air, and furnish them to the grasses as 

 they may be demanded. In case the meadows are naturally cold and wet, abounding already 

 in clay or peat, we should substitute, for the basis of the compost heap, sand instead of muck. 

 Sand alone, scattered upon a peaty meadow, has a wonderful effect in warming the land and 

 inducing the growth of sweet, nutritious herbage. Indeed, we have found that meadows, 

 well drained, after they have been mucked for a series of years, are greatly benefited by a 

 top-dressing of sand, or better still by a coating of alluvial soil which is to be found on the 

 river-bank. This alluvium contains not only sand, but the disintegrated granules of the 

 various rocks and soils that the river has brought down from miles above. We have used 

 this alluvium lately in the compost designed for top-dressing, and have been much pleased 

 with the result. When it cannot be obtained easily, the wash of the highway, or leaf-mold 

 from the forest, answers a good purpose. The latter is particularly rich in all the elements of 

 vegetable nutrition, and our forests can well spare some of it for the benefit of the meadows. 



On a clover lay plaster operates most favorably. Spread broadcast early in the spring, 

 at the rate of one hundred pounds to the acre, it increases this leguminous crop greatly. 

 This great result from so ^mall a quantity cannot be attributed solely to the increase of plant- 

 food furnished by the two main elements of plaster, sulphur and lime, although, as clover 

 contains .both these elements, they doubtless contribute directly to its nourishment. But 

 plaster is also a great absorbent, and its efficiency must in a measure be attributed to its 

 power of retaining the ammonia of the air, and furnishing it to the clover and other plants 

 as they may demand. Plaster alone cannot be relied upon to keep our meadows in heart for 

 a series of years. Those who have seen its magical effects for a year or two, and have sup 

 posed that they could sell their hay and still keep up their meadows by spreading a littfo 

 plaster upon them, have found themselves mistaken, and have complained that their fields 

 became plaster-sick. The sickness was simply starvation for the want of a greater variety 

 of food. Plaster, from its own elements, and by absorption from the air, can furnish only 

 two of the many inorganic elements which enter into the composition of all our grasses. 

 Clover is doubtless more benefited by its action than the other grasses, as the ash of clover 

 shows over thirty per cent, of lime. Plaster is found to act with great efficiency in connec 

 tion with wood-ashes, as they supply the inorganic elements in which plaster is deficient. 



Farmers may differ about the action of plaster, but in the efficiency of barn-yard manure 

 they are all agreed, and in the production of this, hay is the main reliance. Why should 

 not more of this manure be applied to the reproduction of hay, and thus the law of action and 

 reaction be carried out? The more hay, the more manure, and the more manure, the more 

 hay.&quot; 



