236 CULTIVATION OF GRASSES. 



or have been previously sown, and thus produces a suc- 

 cession of young plants. In Europe, top-dressings of lime, 

 marl, compost, ashes, and yard manure are repeated at 

 intervals of two or three years. In Flanders, extensive 

 apphcations are made in this way, of the urine of animals, 

 after it has fermented, or been diluted. It is collected 

 in cisterns under the stables, and adjoining the yard in 

 which the stock are fed, summer and winter. With us, 

 the annual application of a bushel of plaster of Paris is 

 found beneficial, on most lands not absolutely wet. The 

 gypsum not only thickens the verdure with clover, but is 

 of advantage to most of the other grasses. Stable manure 

 should be applied only when it can be spared from the 

 more profitable uses of tillage, as it is far more beneficial 

 mixed with the soil than spread upon the surface. Its most 

 economical application as a top-dressing, is in the form 

 of compost, made by mixing it with bog-earth, river mud, 

 the wash from the highways, or other rich earth, at the 

 rate of one load of dung to five or six of earth. If turned 

 and mixed well, this constitutes a valuable top-dressing for 

 grass grounds, and is best applied in the autumn. When 

 these means fail to insure a good crop of hay, it is time 

 to resort to the plough, a course of crops, and reseeding 

 III. Pastures. Here the object is to obtain those 

 grasses which are most nutritious, relished by cattle, and 

 which supply green feed from March to December, or 

 such a mixture as will give a succession of fresh herbage 

 during the grazing season. The tall-oat, rye, and orchard 

 grasses are best adapted to the lighter and" drier soils, 

 where the spontaneous growth of clover and other indige- 

 nous grasses should be encouraged by top-dressings, or 

 the application of plaster. In moist and stiff grounds, 

 timothy and herds-grass may be sown with the tall-oat. 

 Our observations, under the preceding head, in regard to 

 draining, top-dressing, sowing seeds, and scarifying or har- 

 rowing, lose none of their force when applied to pasture 

 grounds. It is believed, that, if once introduced upon our 

 farms, the valuable grasses which we want would propagate 

 themselves. If so, how important is it that we obtain them, 

 particularly those which our seed-shops already afford. 



