1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 199 



I lies as snug as," " Here I lies as snug as a bug in a rug." 

 " There," said he, " is my epitaph. You can't beat that." 

 So Sam took the shingle and turned it over, and after 

 scratching his head, he wrote, " Here I lies a darn sight 

 snugger than that other bugger." [Laughter.] Now I 

 think, when you roll in your grass seed, that seed lies a little 

 snugger and is going to germinate better than where you 

 simply brush it in. 



Mr. Cruikshanks. Have you had any experience with 

 orchard grass ? 



Mr. Walker. I do not know anything about it. I 

 simply raise hay for the market. I am not a scientific man, 

 nor a very learned man. I have seen orchard grass, but I 

 do not know enough about it to undertake to tell you any- 

 thing. 



Mr. Wilkinson. After your land has been seeded down 

 for five years and weeds of various kinds come into the 

 grass, what do you do with them? I think one item in the 

 expense of raising hay is to take care of the weeds. 



Mr. Walker. If you sow late in the fall and use barn- 

 yard manure where buckwheat has been pretty abundant, 

 you will be pretty sure to get a crop of weeds in your grass 

 next summer. If you sow as early as August or September, 

 although those weeds are mingled with your manure, frost 

 kills them, and you will have clean hay next year ; but I do 

 not think in five years, on good grass land, well manured, 

 that you will get many weeds. If you do, there is only one 

 thing to do, and that is to plougli up and reseed. 



Question. Can you not mow them down? 



Mr. Walker. Oh, that mowing down does no good. 



A Voice. Plough them up. 



Mr. Walker. Yes, rip them up. 



Mr. Chase. Have you tried* top-dressing and found it 

 practicable and economical ? 



Mr. Walker. If you top-dress when your sod is, say 

 two years old, it may be advantageous ; but if you are going 

 to raise grass, I think we had better use more manure by 

 furrowing it in than to use it in top-dressing. Where you 

 top-dress, and the ground is frozen from the first of Decem- 

 ber until the middle of Mai'ch or April, during that entire 



