EXCESS OF MANURE ON GRASS 299 



horses. I have daily opportunity to witness how eagerly 

 the cows and sheep nibble certain strips in a pasture 

 nearby, where manure is thinly spread each year and 

 where the grass grows thick and green. There are ex- 

 ceptions to this truth, however, and things well worth 

 bearing in mind. 



Excessive Horse Manure on Pastures. It seems 

 proved that it is dangerous to put large amounts of city 

 manure on horse pastures, for though it may make a 

 great growth of grass the grass seems sometimes to 

 cause disease among the horses grazing it. In Virginia 

 where men have bought farms and turned them into 

 grazing land they have sometimes sought a quick short 

 cut to good grass by the use of large amounts of manure 

 shipped from cities. This manure would be nearly all 

 made by horses. While the result in growth was very 

 satisfactory, yet there developed quite frequently the 

 disease called "pighead." Henry Fairfax, a very care- 

 ful observer, related these facts to me, and further stated 

 that he had cured a number of cases by simply taking 

 them away from the excessively rich manured pastures 

 and putting them on his own grass where little or no 

 manure had ever been applied. I have observed that 

 horses very unwillingly graze over or near their own 

 droppings, nature seeming by instinct to direct them 

 where it is safe and healthful to graze and away from 

 the unsafe. Sheep and cattle graze readily on the spots 

 neglected by horses. 



Mixed Stocking of Pastures. For many reasons it is 

 wise to graze pastures either with a mixed company of 

 cattle, horses and sheep, or else to alternate them, using 



