CARE OF PASTURES. 263 



to "be done? In my humble opinion the corner-stone in regard 

 to the improvement of pasture land must be put in the head of 

 the farmer himself. To improve the pasture land of Maine, you 

 must first seek to reform the farmer. The lands were once 

 fertile, they are now sterile. Fires burned it, floods washed it. 

 The milk and flesh of cattle have caused an immense drain upon 

 the land. We must use fertilizers. A mixture of sulphate of 

 ammonia, 180 Ibs. ; muriate of potash, 70 Ibs. ; a good, nice 

 superphosphate, 100 Ibs. Mix and put on to two acres of land. 



"In improving my pasture, I would like to select my stock. 

 There must be some stock and there must he somebody to raise 

 it. I would like to let somebody else manufacture the animal 

 carcass and let me have it to fatten. Then the animal will only 

 take away from my farm carbon, which I can afford to have him 

 do. So I will reach out to New York or to the West and buy 

 cattle from somebody whom I do not know and whose farm I 

 shall never see." 



A chief reason for the light yield of grass, or a failure to get a 

 good " catch," in many portions of our country is due to the fact 

 that the strength of the new land was required to produce suc- 

 cessive crops of wheat, Indian corn, cotton, and other hoed crops 

 on arable land. 



Where thin or unproductive, harrow the surface and sow on 

 other kinds of grasses and clovers, with a top dressing of some 

 fertilizer. This serves, to some extent, as a rotation of crops for 

 the soil. If the cattle are fed oil meal or some other rich food, 

 most of it goes to fertilize the land. Bare knolls will be 

 improved by a very thin mulch of straw put on early in winter 

 after the ground is frozen. A light, fine-tooth harrow will work 

 the manure out of sight and out of the way. It helps to cover 

 the small seeds. 



Scatter the droppings of cattle, that no offensive bunches of 

 tall grass may grow around them. It is a good practice at the 



