THE TIM BUXKER PAPKRS. 175 



I have done nothing extra for it this year. To be sure, the 

 season has been more moist, but that hardly accounts for 

 the difference. You see, in draining a piece of wet land 

 two or more feet deep, you bring a large quantity of sur 

 face soil gradually to the action of the atmosphere, and of 

 the rains and frosts. It undergoes a curing process, and 

 the soil improves, year by year, until the water line is 

 reached. This is the third crop I have got off of this lot 

 since I put the drain down, and each year has been a 

 marked improvement upon the last. I suppose I might 

 cut a second crop if the lot was not so handy for pasturing. 

 And then I have noticed that it is a good plan to feed 

 and mow alternately. I much prefer to mow a common 

 meadow one year, and pasture the next, than to mow 

 straight along for four or five years, as most farmers do. 

 If a meadow is very rich, like this drained lot, I think it 

 does better to feed the second crop, than to mow it. If it 

 produces a tun and a half at the second growth, as I think 

 it will, of course so much is returned to the soil in the ma 

 nure of the cattle. And then I have another important 

 advantage in the seeds of the clover that are scattered by 

 the cattle. I have noticed that the second growth of 

 clover starts immediately, and as I do not turn in until 

 the last of August, many of the plants, both of the white 

 and red, go to seed, and are scattered before the cattle eat 

 them. I do not believe in feeding late, but leave time for 

 the grass to make a good covering for the roots. As a 

 result of this treatment, I find that clover does not die out 

 the first year, as is usual. I have a good deal of clover in 

 fields sown three ye.irs ago. Other grasses are benefited 

 in the same way, and the sod remains thick and strong. 

 I have sometimes thought that the feet of the cattle acted 

 like a roller, pressing the seed into the soil. At any rate, 

 the fact is as stated, and I do not mow any second crop, 

 where I can pasture it. I don t think second mowing pays 

 best. 



