USE OF PLASTER. 359 



the pasture land is well worth attending to." The 

 methods of renovating pastures by top-dressing will be 

 alluded to hereafter. 



A farmer of Massachusetts says, in answer to the six- 

 teenth question of the circular : 



" This depends on the kind of land to be reclaimed. 

 If it can be ploughed, I would plough it and plant it 

 with potatoes or something else, to make it mellow and 

 fine, and then sow it to grass. If it is too rough or 

 stony to plough, which is the case with a large share 

 of the pasturing in this section, but is good, sweet, 

 warm land, I would feed it with sheep. I have a pas- 

 ture of this description, that, a few years ago, was 

 covered with briers and bushes so thick that there was 

 but very little grass upon it. I cut off the bushes, and 

 put on sheep enough to eat everything that grew upon 

 it for four or five years. They have killed all the 

 briers, and most of the bushes. I have sowed some 

 plaster of Paris, which is all I have done to it, and now 

 one acre is worth and will produce more feed than 

 three would ten years ago. I should say that my sheep 

 have always done well on this pasture. If the land is 

 cold and wet, and inclined to grow bushes, I let it 

 go, and never try to reclaim it, unless it is near the 

 buildings, or near the village, where the land is very 

 high. In that case it may pay to ditch and work it 

 into good smooth land." 



Another practical farmer, of great experience, says : 

 " We have a variety of soil in this town ; some of the 

 best of pasture lands, stony soils, generally clay sub- 

 soil. Plaster of Paris is our renovator for pasturage. 

 It works most admirably on almost all of our lands. 

 Two hundred pounds to the acre, applied once in two 

 or three years, in early spring, will keep our pastures 

 good." And another : " The best method I have ever 



