226 LABORS OF SEPTEMBER. 



acre will give the grass a good start ; but on some soils 

 plaster seems to do no good. 



A man may plough one or more acres in a large 

 pasture without the labor of fencing off as in case of 

 planting; for his cattle may generally be taken from 

 his summer pasture in this month, before they can in- 

 jure the new grass. When lands are seeded down to 

 grass, they should be harrowed well and laid as smooth 

 as may be, that they may be better fitted for another 

 ploughing a few years hence. If no manure can be 

 spared, the land should be turned occasionally, and 

 more especially where there are bushes. In most cases 

 we obtain better feed the next summer than if we had 

 not turned over the soil ; but we should not turn in the 

 cattle quite so early in spring. 



If our doctrine is correct, that grass does not exhaust 

 lands, it must be evident that by repeated ploughings, 

 and turning under the vegetable growth, we are mak- 

 ing our pastures richer and richer. But how few will 

 plough without sowing grain ! Many are loath to 

 make the experiment. 



The plea of the slothful is, " we cannot enrich our 

 farms, because we have not manure." This plea will 

 not hold where a man has a team and a plough. 



Turning Meadow into English. Last September 

 we carted as many loads of loam and soil from the 

 road-side on to a meadow, near by, as one man could 

 do in one day with a yoke of oxen. The grass on the 

 meadow was coarse, and as we had an abundance of 

 hay, we preferred not to mow this, but to bury it 

 green. 



One man with oxen would cover nearly one fourth 

 of an acre in a day, as the long grass helped to fill up 

 the hollows between the hassocks. After this was 

 evenly spread over the grass, so as to cover it complete- 

 ly, a few loads of compost manure were spread on the 

 top, and then herds-grass and red-top were sowed and 

 brushed in. It was near the middle of September 



