220 CORRESPONDENCE. 



when we have turned over the sod in August, it will 

 burn well in two or three weeks. When the sods will 

 not hum separately, we pile them in heaps, and in dry 

 summers have no difficulty in burning the greater part 

 of the matter turned up by the hoe. If any sods are 

 left unburnt, we pile them in high heaps, to stand until 

 another summer. 



We spread over the ground evenly all the ashes we 

 have made, and then sow on our seed. One peck of 

 herds-grass and one bushel of red-top are quite suffi- 

 cient seed for an acre. If we wish for clover to be 

 mixed, we sow this in winter and let it bury itself, but 

 we cover the other with a hand-rake. 



When we can get the ground prepared, we choose to 

 sow as early as the first of September, because we then 

 harvest a larger burden at the first cutting, but Ave do 

 not fear the winter when we sow as late as the last of 

 that month. The grass in these grounds is hot often 

 winter-killed. When we obtain a good mess of ashes 

 from the sods we think this the cheapest mode of pre- 

 paring these lands, for the ashes make manure enough 

 for two or three years. 



Meadows which have a surface that cannot be easily 

 burned may be prepared for grass by ploughing, or by 

 turning over the sods flat with a hand-hoe. In this 

 case it is necessary to cart or to wheel on loam, gravel, 

 or sand, and then a top dressing of compost manure. 



It often happens that the border of a meadow con- 

 sists of a good loam which is so nigh that it may be 

 very cheaply hauled on to the meadow. Gravel is 

 good for this purpose, but pure sand is the poorest of 

 any thing. When the surface of the meadow is tolera- 

 bly smooth it need not be covered more than three 

 inches thick with gravel. One man in one day, with 

 a small yoke of oxen and cart, will cover over one 

 fourth of an acre sufficiently deep for the reception of 

 the compost manure. 



Common smooth meadow-land, with a burden of 



