27 



as I can have b}' high manuring and frequent cuttings, I do not 

 believe I very much need them. M3' cows are never troubled with 

 indigestion or constipation when they are given a liberal allow- 

 ance of good rowen. 



Pasturing Mowinc; Fiki.ds. 



I do not believe in feeding rowen in the field. With mowers that 

 easily cut an acre per hour, and tedders and rakes that will turn and 

 gather it together in good weather ready for the cart in another 

 hour, we can better attbrd to feed the second crop in the barn, where 

 the manure can be better preserved and where the cattle will be 

 in no danger of cropping too closely or of pulling up the grass by 

 the roots or of tramping it into the ground. My mowing fields are 

 never fed by any animals. 



I do not mean to mow later than the first of September ; that 

 gives time for another crop to come up sufficient to protect the life 

 of the grass through a freezing winter. It is well known by ob- 

 serving men that tlie tops of plants cannot make much growth un- 

 less the roots grow also, and that the roots cannot increase without 

 a corresponding growth of the tops. Now, when a heavy field of 

 grass is cut in midsummer, the plants receive a severe shock ; but 

 with favorable weather for a few da3's, they are enabled to recover 

 and put on a new growth ; but when cattle are turned on to such a 

 field they keep the tops eaten down so closely that the roots can- 

 not make a strong, healthy growth, such as will carry them safely 

 through a severe winter. 



Top-Dressing. 

 I practice top-dressing to some extent. If I top-dress at all, it is 

 while the grass is thick and vigorous, instead of waiting till all the 

 best varieties are exhausted. The best time for appljung manure,! 

 believe — other things being equal — is just after removing a crop. It 

 then acts both as a mulch and a fertilizer. The question of top- 

 di-essing or re-seeding will probably remain an open one for some 

 time yet, there are so many attending circumstances to be taken 

 into the account. The cost of seed, the labor of plowing and cul- 

 tivating, the destruction of the sward by droughts, winter-killing 

 or grubs, the impurity of the grass-seed in market that is full of 

 foul weeds, all have a bearing that makes it necessary for each one 

 to decide for himself, whether to top-dress or re-seed. 



Amount of Hay Cut. 



Of the gross amount of hay cut on my farm, I cannot give as ac- 

 curate an account as I would like to, as I have no reasonable con- 

 venience for weighing the whole crop. I could give the number of 

 loads drawn in, but that would not gi\e others a very correct idea 

 of the number of tons. I shall leave the estimates to the judg- 

 ment of the Committee. The present condition of the fields and 

 the prospects for next year's crops speak for themselves. The best 

 I can do towards fixing the amount of ha}- raised, is to give the 

 number of animals fed from the twenty-five acres : — Two horses, 



