CHEMICALS ON PASTURE LAND. 179 



manure. I cannot say how much additional hay it has given 

 me, because I have not measured it, but I can say this much : 

 every place where I put it, in the early part of the season, 

 before the drought came on, I could see where it went, just as 

 plainly as you can see, when you have sown a new field of 

 oats, for instance, where your hand went, — where the seed 

 was thick and where it was not. 



I have tried an experiment with rye in reclaiming pastures, 

 and I will tell you what I meant to do, and what, I guess, I 

 shall fail to do. I took four acres of pasture, that had not 

 been ploughed for twenty-eight years. It was quite stony, 

 and when I went upon the farm, it was covered with brush, 

 beeches, birches, etc. I had pulled them out, but it did not 

 produce as much feed as I wanted it to. It had been improved, 

 and I thought it should do better. I thought I couldn't afford 

 to let it lie in that way. I turned it over, and took out rocks 

 enough to build a wall on one side. It was a piece twenty- 

 five or thirty rods square. I sowed it with rye, and thought 

 I would try this experiment, and see if I could not reclaim 

 this pasture. I sowed grass-seed with the rye, just the same 

 kind that I should if I had intended to mow it the next year. 

 I have let the cattle run on that field this fall, and it is looking 

 very finely now. I applied this grass fertilizer at the rate of 

 $10 worth to the acre. I calculated that the rye would take 

 care of itself, the cattle would eat it off, and that would be 

 an even thing, but I thought the grass ought to have some 

 additional fertilizer to that which nature had given, it having 

 been cropped by milch cows for a series of years. The rye 

 is looking so finely, and I have so much confidence in my 

 ability to raise corn with these commercial fertilizers, that I 

 have concluded to fence that piece of ground, and, in addition, 

 another piece which I have ploughed up, and I propose to 

 plant corn next year, and manure it with chemical fertilizers, 

 because it is way up on a hill, — although it is pretty flat when 

 you get there, — so that you cannot haul manure up there, but 

 you can take the fertilizers up on your back. I do not know 

 how the experiment will succeed, but I mean to find out 

 whether I can reclaim my pastures in that way. I think my 

 cattle have got as much feed from the rye as they would from 

 the pasture, provided it had not been turned over. What the 



