376 OPINIONS OF FARMERS. 



upon the ground that the turf was removed from, then 

 plough on the upper side of the hill, and shovel two 

 loads of earth upon each load of manure, beginning in 

 the spring, and so on through the season. As the manure 

 of the barn increases, cart to the meadow, placing it 

 upon the upper side of the first heap, and plough and 

 shovel as before. From one hundred loads of good 

 stable manure it makes three hundred loads of good 

 compost, and will make as much grass as so many loads 

 of stable manure. For grass, put ten cart-loads per 

 acre. Spread in the fall upon mowing, this compost 

 makes more grass than green manure, carted and 

 spread upon mowing in the spring. In almost all cases 

 the knoll or hill carted until it is level with the adjoin- 

 ing ground produces more crop than b^bre." 



Another writes me as follows: "Top-dressing for 

 mowing lands is very beneficial, but too expensive, if 

 barn-yard manure alone is used, so much passes off by 

 evaporation. A compost of one-half or two-thirds turf, 

 or swamp muck, and one-third good manure, is quite as 

 beneficial to the land, and probably better or more en- 

 during than all manure. If ashes are mixed in this com- 

 post, it is all the better. But, if stable manure alone, or 

 in compost, is to be applied, it should be in autumn, so 

 that the frosts of winter may incorporate it with the 

 soil." 



Another farmer, of great experience and observation, 

 says : " I top-dress generally late in the fall, but should 

 prefer early spring dressing, if we could cart on the 

 field without injury, and the time couH be spared from 

 other business. My land is chiefly of a cold, tenacious 

 soil, and a compost is made of one-fourth stable manure 

 and three-fourths light loam. For warm land, peat mud 

 would be used instead of the .loam. Twenty common 

 ox-cart loads, from thirty-three to thirty-five bushels 



