102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



piece of pasture roused up in that way by a simple accident ; 

 and an accident will sometimes furnish a rule for you to adopt. 

 But at any rate, after you have made up your mind that the 

 natural grass is all you want to improve upon, and have estab- 

 lished the fact that you can remove all noxious weeds growing 

 there, in one way or another, then the question is, what you 

 will apply. I remember that the Secretary of the State Board 

 of Agriculture once owned, in the town of Rowley, a piece of 

 land upon which I suppose that almost every noxious plant that 

 has been spoken of here grew naturally. The land was low and 

 flat, and you could find as much hardback as you wanted ; you 

 could find Johnswort, if you desired it ; you could find Canada 

 thistles if you were very eager for them, and almost everything. 

 It was low, as I have said, and it was evident there was under- 

 neath a considerable quantity of water. What would you do 

 with such a piece of land as that ? In the first place, let out 

 the water ; and, in the next place, if there is anything that can 

 be applied to it that will bring it into good grass, it is sand. 

 Whether it is a mechanical or chemical process I do not know, 

 but such a piece of land would be exceedingly benefitted by 

 sand. 



You may find that plaster will do in some cases, but if plaster 

 fails, there is no reason to be discouraged. You can try ashes, 

 to a certain extent, with hen manure or without. Your object 

 should be to ascertain what kind of manure will eSect your 

 purpose, and then apply it. But you have forgotten one of the 

 most important parts of this whole question, and that is, that 

 you cannot stock one pasture with the same kind of animals for 

 a series of years, and not have that pasture suffer. Is not 

 that so ? I have heard that the sheep pastures in Berkshire 

 entirely failed at one time, and the farmers were obliged to sell 

 their sheep because their pastures would not keep them. But 

 the instant the sheep were gone, the cattle came in, and they 

 found feed enough. So the farmers of Berkshire would tell you 

 that sheep will kill a pasture, and cattle improve it. But the 

 simple fact was that the sheep had taken from those pastures, 

 for a series of years, all the grass they were willing to eat, and 

 they had yielded manure enough to draw out other grasses for 

 other animals. I would, then, change the class of animals from 

 time to time. The pastures would last much longer, would be 



