MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 769 



BEST METHOD OF LAYING DOWN LAND TO 

 GRASS, AND CONTINUING THE PRODUCT. 



BY FRANCIS BREWER. 



It may appear to many that the subject here presented is of 

 too small consequence to require examination, that much, 

 perhaps all, that can be said, is now before the public. After 

 all that can be said, every individual will pursue his own 

 opinion, and follow the dictates of his own discretion. This 

 right we will not invade. 



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The methods which now most generally prevail in the east- 

 ern and middle States, of seeding their grass lands, is of a very 

 recent date, but is rapidly gaining the confidence of the public 

 mind. Indeed, we need not go back more than ten years to 

 commence our testimony to its rise and progress, for in the 

 year 1843 we find that a premium of $200 was awarded to 

 Benjamin Poor, of West Newbury, for the best cultivated farm 

 within the State of Massachusetts. In their report upon this 

 subject, the committee of the State Society say : " Mr. Poor 

 states that after his crop of hay is taken off the ground, the 

 land is then ploughed, laying the furrows flat ; a liberal top- 

 dressing is then applied, and rye and grass seed is sowed and 

 rolled in. A bushel, and sometimes a bushel and a half of 

 grass seed per acre is used. Mr. Poor, after using much of his 

 grass for soiling his stock through the summer, estimates his 

 crop of hay on hand the first day of August at 157 tons. He 

 mows 86 acres." 



R. L. Pell, of Pelham, Ulster County, N. Y., having been re- 

 quested to make public the experiment he has tried and fully 

 tested, says, in January, 1844 : " I now submit them with all 

 due deference to the opinions of my superiors in agriculture. 

 When preparing a meadow or upland, I usually seed on wheat, 

 sowing in the fall, half a bushel of Timothy seed to the acre, 

 and the following spring, after a moderate fall of snow, one 

 bushel of clover seed, top-dressed with charcoal dust, and 

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