S8 ON IMPHOVING PASTURE LANDS. 



designed for beef, one will be ready at almost any time, when 

 its high price or other circumstances require its sale, while the 

 other, if sold at all, will be deficient in quality and weight. 



Now the question is, how can pastures be improved with 

 such limited expense that the additional income will repay, or 

 more than repay the outlay ; for unless this can be done, it is 

 not considered profitable farming. This, I find, is the most 

 difficult part of the subject. There is so much difference in 

 soils, in locations, and in the circumstances of the owners of 

 the soils, that it is difficult forming a general rule; but all these 

 things should be taken into consideration, for what is profita- 

 ble in one case, might not be in another. 



And first, I would say, that pastures should not be fed too 

 close, as close feeding tends to bind them out. Some pastures 

 may be profitably improved by the ordinary manner of culti- 

 vation and manuring, others, by top-dressing with compost 

 manure, and others by ploughing, sowing with rye, and hay 

 seed, and feeding the rye, instead of cutting it. But pastures 

 cannot be improved in this way but to a limited extent, for 

 most farmers want nearly all their manure for their mowing 

 land, and many pastures cannot be conveniently ploughed, in 

 consequence of hills, rocks, and other obstacles. Leached or 

 dry ashes do well on some lands, but these cannot be procured 

 but in limited quantities. 



The best and cheapest way of renovating pasture lands, is 

 by using gypsum on such land as is benefited by it. It can 

 be procured in any quantity, will cost but about 30 cents per 

 bushel, and will require about one and half or two bushels to 

 the acre, per year. Some land, however, receives but little or 

 no benefit from it. And some farmers object to its use, on the 

 ground that of itself it affords the plant no nourishment, and that, 

 consequently, it will injure or exhaust the land. Now, in reply, I 

 would say that I am no chemist, and shall not attempt to give 

 the why or the wherefore in regard to its operation, but would 

 simply say that 1 have seen its eftects on pastures for more 

 than thirty years, without ploughing or any other dressing, ex- 

 cept what has been dropped by the cattle, and they are now 

 among the best pastures in the vicinity. And further, if pas- 



