302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The use of lime as a fertilizer has long been a *mooted ques- 

 tion. It is well known that the late Mr. Buckminster, of the 

 " Massachusetts Ploughman," had no faith in it, and was always 

 ready to argue against its use, while others, quite as intelligent, 

 and with the advantage of science on their side, have held the 

 opposite opinion. 



I consider Mr. Green's experience and observation so peculiar 

 and valuable as throwing a light on this point, that I presume I 

 shall be pardoned for occupying a few moments with a more 

 particular account of it. The land on which he settled was not 

 natural grass land, at least much of it was not, and his first chief 

 study was, as it has been ever since, to improve it in this respect. 

 He made but little manure at first, and that wanted for the 

 planting ground. He had heard of the use of plaster, and knew 

 its effect. On the plain lands, in the north part of the town, the 

 farmers have had wonderful success with it for awhile, but at 

 length it ceased to operate, and left the land in worse condition 

 than at first. Consequently, at the time of which I am speak- 

 ing, it had grown out of favor and was not used at all in the 

 neighborhood. Mr. Green resolved to try it. His first purchase 

 was five hundred pounds, for which he had to go some twelve 

 miles down the river. Its effect was most marked. He cut 

 great crops ; , but being determined to avoid the error of his 

 neighbors in allowing his land to get reduced, he applied, every 

 year or two, a strawy barnyard manure. He followed this 

 practice on the same piece of ground for eighteen years, at the 

 end of which time, to use his own words, " he found himself 

 against a stump." His lots had become a bed of moss, the little 

 grass that grew being thin and short. He had proved one ferti- 

 lizer, and though disappointed, nothing daunted, he determined 

 to try another. He decided upon lime, used it, and in two 

 years the moss had disappeared, and he was cutting fine crops 

 of grass. Since then he has used lime constantly and largely, 

 until his whole farm has been brought to a pitch of excellence 

 not often reached. His present method of using it is usually 

 composted with earth and manure, and is somewhat as follows. 

 He has two receptacles for the manure, viz. : the cellar and the- 

 barnyard. Both are well supplied with absorbants, generally 

 earth. After planting, the whole is worked over, and with the 

 cellar manure is mixed about a hundred pounds of plaster to 



