228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



the president. Experiments in this way had 

 been favorable with him. Having plenty of ma- 

 nure, how could it be best applied to grass lands ? 

 Could it be profitably done without breaking up, 

 and by means of top-dressing ? Breaking up had 

 been deprecated by Hon. Simon Brown, and oth- 

 ers, in the Patent Office Report ; and what Mr. 

 Q. wanted, was^ to know what he should do with 

 his manure so as to make his grass lands yield 

 two tons of hay, per acre, and keep the yield 

 permanent. 



Mr. Sanford Howard corroborated the ex- 

 perience of Mr. Quincy with regard to the cul- 

 ture of his grass lands, and their produce, and 

 also some observation made by him concerning 

 tiie cultivation of hay lands by top-dressing in 

 England and Scotland. 



Gen. Sutton, of Salem, stated that he culti- 

 vated his hay lands in September, manuring them 

 well, and sowing them with herds-grass and clo- 

 ver. He let them lay five years without lifting, 

 and always top-dressed in the fall. 



Mr. Lawton, of Great Barrington, had a dif- 

 ferent sort of land to deal with than the sea- 

 coast farmers, and had to experiment differently, 

 and with more limited means than they had ; but 

 the general management was not materially dif- 

 ferent. He had cultivated land for hay for 30 

 years without breaking up, and had realized as 

 much as two tons per acre. He did not approve 

 of overgrown crops of hay, as it wanted consis- 

 tency, and did not go so far with cattle as an or- 

 dinarily good crop. When he prepared land for 

 hay, he drained, plowed deep, harrowed well, used 

 ashes and compost and planted corn, plowed 

 again in the fall and manured with compost and 

 sowed down with red-top, timothy and clover. 

 As to the time of cutting grass, — if it was cut 

 before it became woody, it would make excellent 

 hay ; but if it was allowed to stand too long, two- 

 thirds of its nourishment would be lost. This 

 was a most important consideration ; and taking 

 into the value of the hay crop, was a particular 

 that should not be slightly glanced at. Mr. 

 Lawton approved of a light irrigation in the 

 spring as being of much benefit to grass in its 

 earlier stage. If more care were paid to our hay, 

 we would not want so much of it, and what would 

 be of as much consequence, our cattle could rely 

 on the nutritious value of what they did eat. 

 Mr. L. top-dressed his meadows every second 

 year, and disapproved of growing green crops on 

 lands to be plowed in as manure, as he never had 

 any success from it — and especially from the use 

 of buckwheat in this manner, which produced an 

 acidity in the soil that was not favorable to the 

 healthy growth of grasses. 



In reply to Mr. W. J. Buckminster, Mr 

 Lawton stated that he underdrained soft meadow 



land, and also wet upland, with great profit. He 

 had raised wheat on such lands after draining, 

 when it never could be raised previously. 



Mr. Leander Wetherell spoke to the ques- 

 tion raised by ]Mr. Quincy, and mentioned lands 

 in the State which had yielded two crops every 

 year, after top-dressing every second year — or 

 three tons to the season ; but the owner did no* 

 feed his land with cattle. This experience seeme(' 

 opposed to the theory of breaking up grass lands 

 — or what was called vatural moioing — land that 

 had never been turned up by the plow within 

 man's memory. The fall is generally the better 

 time for top-dressing — if the ground is not lia- 

 ble to be washed ; if it is so, the better plan 

 would be to manure in spring. A rule in the 

 middle of the State was to manure these natural 

 grass fields as soon as the crops were taken oflF. 

 Clover, red-top and herds-grass were the best 

 kinds to be used for seeding land. Mr. W. had 

 no great opinion of the value of the new kind 

 of grasses, at present recommended as forage 

 grasses ; and was surprised at the small quanti- 

 ties of forage grown per acre in the common- 

 wealth. The average was short of one ton to 

 an acre. Nantucket gave nearly an average of 

 two tons. Farmers could not, surely, afford to 

 use their lands for so little ; and would they so 

 determine, the best way would be to go into im- 

 provement without delay, and raise four tons per 

 acre, as had been done in one instance on record. 



The President said that, near Ipswich, and 

 in that locality, generally, which was famous for 

 growing hay, it was customary, after the crop had 

 been taken off, to run an iron-tooth harrow over 

 it, put in seed, bush harrow it; and in this way 

 there was much renovation. Mr. Proctor did 

 not approve of allowing cattle to feed on lands 

 intended for hay, as they poached it in wet weath- 

 er. Mr. Wetherell agreed in this opinion. 



Mr. W. J. BrCKMlxsTER took a general re- 

 view of the discussion, pointing out such features 

 in it as harmonized with each other, and were 

 certified scientifically. He concluded by eulogiz- 

 ing the policy of using labor-saving machines in 

 agricultural operations, which latter subject was 

 discussed by several othe^ gentlemen up to the 

 time that the meeting broke up. 



Mr. Quincy, and other gentlemen, approved of 

 the use of hay-caps, and stated that, in catching 

 weather, they would pay for themselves in one 

 year. 



The question for next week will be, "T/te best 

 mode of improving the present system of New 

 Enpcland farming ;" and it is expected that Hon. 

 Josiah Quincy, Jr., will preside. 



Treatment of Ringbone. — "Will you or anv 

 of your subscribers, tell me the best and salcst 



