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THE GENESEE FARifER. 



TOP-DHESSING MEADOWS. 



We have repeatedly c.illed the attention of the 

 readers of tlie Genesee Farmer to the great benefits 

 derived frora top-dressing old meadows, clover 

 fields, &c. It is gratifying to see the increased at- 

 tention paid to this subject. "We know of no im- 

 provement that is so well calculated to increase 

 the products of our agriculture. If we increase 

 the yield of wheat in a given instance, the wheat 

 is sold off the farm, and that is the end of it. With 

 gi-assand clover, however, the case is very different. 

 Any increase in the grass or clover crop enables us 

 to make more manure, and we reap the benefit of 

 it for years to come. " Manure your green crops," 

 is the English motto. One of the best farmers in 

 Shropshire once remarked to the writer : " Insure 

 me a good crop of turnips, and I will insure you a 

 good crop of everything else." It is so with clover 

 and grass. The more clover and grasb' we grow, 

 and feed out on thefarm^ the more manure we can 

 make and the richer will our land become. 



The editor of the Massachusetts Plowman re- 

 cently alluded to the " wonderful effects of even a 

 slight dressing of a compost of dried muck and 

 manure on fields exhausted by repeated cropping," 

 and says : 



"We know that there are many who do not ap- 

 preciate the fact that it is possible to double the 

 yield of the State in ten j-ears by a more generous 

 aiiplicatioii of those fertilizing materials wljich lie 

 upon almost every farm; the lioardings of ages of 

 vegetable growth and decay, and whieli only need 

 to be removed from swamps and meadows to tiie 

 uplands, and mingled with the manure from the 

 barnyard to add immensely to the productivene.^s 

 of tiieir fields. 



" We stoiid a few weeks ago upon a field in the 

 eastern part of the State, from wliicli tlie owner 

 had just taken a second crop of well-cured rowen, 

 which by actual weiglit upon the town scales was 

 over two tuns to the acre. We have walked over 

 hundreds of acres this autumn of similar land 

 that the owners have not seen fit to mow the 

 second time, or if mowed has produced l)Ht a small 

 crop in comparison; and the reason is that the 

 annual top-dre>sing, so essential to keeping mowiuir 

 lands in good heart, had been neglected, and all 

 the manure (and there was none too mucli) lias 

 been applied to other and less remunerative crops " 



After (-peaking of the ailvantagi-s of compp^ting 

 swamp mufk with manure, lie says: 



"We ol)serve that some fanners are afraid to 

 use large quantities, lest the strength of their barn 

 manure siiould be too much diluted; 'Ut in lliis. 

 we think, they labor under a great mistake, for 

 in every cord of muck in which tVrnieiii.ntion 

 can be established, itn nature is so entinly chimgi-'l 

 by the cbfmical action which ensues a? U> tit it at 

 once for the use of the grass crop ; and exiinsiiie 

 to the sun and atmosphere enables it to give out a 



coniinued supply of nourishment, not only for one 

 season but for several. 



. "Tiiere are few farms in which attention to this 

 simple but well-estaMislied f;ict in liusl>andry will 

 not add to the hay crop annually enough of profit 

 to pay for the enlarged barn-nxim which will be 

 recjuired to shelter it. And while there are ?uch 

 ample dei)osits of valuable mnck in every neigh- 

 borhood, it does seem strange to see farmers neg- 

 lecting to provide it as an absorbent for their liquid 

 manures, or using the solid manures of the barn 

 and barnyard MMthout any admixture with a ma- 

 terial which is as ' plenty as dirt,' but which, when 

 rightly treated, becomes as precious as gold. 



"Upon old fields and upland mowing, muck frora 

 tlie swamps and meadows becomes a valuable fer- 

 tilizer without composting, but riie process of its 

 decomposition is slow, and its good effects are noi 

 immediately apparent; but after a year or two its 

 beneficial effects are discoverable in the increased 

 greenness of the sjiring verdure, and the larger 

 weight of the summer mowing; iiiid it illustrates, 

 even in this indifferent and somewhat negligent 

 way of using, that muck is one of the good things 

 of which a Yankee farmer can never have too 

 much, provided he puts it in the right place." 



BEES IN WISCONSIN. 



Ed9. Genesee Faemek : The people of this State 

 are getting somewhat waked up on bee matters. 

 The present year has been very unpropitious, and 

 many have failed to realize any profits from their 

 bees. There has been but few swarms and veiy 

 little surplus stored this season. Tliose who do 

 not look well to their bees will find that many of 

 their stocks will die of starvation before spring. 

 Late swarms have laid up but little more than 

 enough to just live along fur a month or two. In 

 some more favored localities, where white clover 

 abounds, bees have stored up some surplus, and 

 have increased moderately. In this favored loc.ility 

 bees have increased by swarming i)erha])S about 25 

 per cent. A neighbor, from about sixteen stocks, 

 lias received nearly two hundred jiounds of cap 

 honey. I had, from about one-half as many, 

 about the same amount. The old fashioned box 

 hive, with caps or drawers above, is the hive in 

 common use. For the last two years people have 

 commenced using Langsthoth's and other movable 

 frame hives. Some are very much pleased with 

 them; others think tiiem of no account. I be- 

 lieve the most scientific men agree that the movable 

 Irame, in some shape, is very desirable. 



Boiling Pt-airM, Dodge Co., Wis. I>. L. Fairchild. 



High Fakming.— It is stated in the last Marh 

 Line Express that Mr. Ilnosox has exi)ended du- 

 ring the last twenty-five years, on his farm of 

 twelve hundred acres, in Norlolk, $350,000 for oil 

 cake, and $250,000 for artificial manures! We 

 have been on Mr. Hudson's farm, and may s.ay that, 

 though originally very jioor, it is now one of the 

 most productive farms in England — and no wonder. 

 Twenty dollars per acre eacli year for manure and 

 imported cattle food would soon make any laud rich ! 



