ESSAY ON TOP DRESSINGS. 145 



ESSAY 



ON TOP DRESSINGS FOR MOWING AND PASTURE LANDS. 



• BY CHARLES L. FLINT. 



Some soils must, from their nature, be kept in perpetual 

 grass. Such are rough pastures, rocky hills, and low lands 

 subject to frequent overflows. Stiff clay soils, too, require an 

 amount of labor, in tilling, wholly disproportioned to the re- 

 turns they yield. But these^ if properly managed, may be 

 made as productive, or nearly so, as the finer loams. Steep 

 hills cannot be ploughed to advantage, since the best parts of 

 the soil are washed away. Other lands, from their situation 

 about the house or the cottage, cannot, conveniently, be tilled. 



It becomes, then, a question of much practical importance 

 to many, how these lands are to be improved ? A course of 

 interesting experiments which have come under our observa- 

 tion, have induced us to throw out the following hints, hoping 

 they may be of use to those practical men who have not the 

 time or the inclination to attempt doubtful experiments. 



The difliculties wliich attend this subject arise from the ne- 

 cessity of using more or less of scientific terms in explaining 

 the effect of particular applications to the soil. This will be 

 avoided so far as it can be. 



It is a matter of regret that the improvement of waste lands 

 has not been treated in a manner which its importance deserves.* 

 The idea was formerly entertained that pasture lands were suf- 

 ficiently enriched by the animals which fed them. Practical 

 men begin to think otherwise. It is found that a profitable re- 

 turn is made for the little outlay vv^hich they require. Particu- 



* The practical effect of this inattention to the importance of waste and pas- 

 ture lands may be distinctly traced in the eastern part of Massachusetts. Not- 

 withstanding the rapid improvement in ahnost all other departments of agricul- 

 ture, and the increase of arable lands, it will be admitted, I think, that a large 

 part of our pasture lands are in a worse condition now than formerly. This 

 subject is worthy to excite the attention of practical and scientific agriculturists. 

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