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»!m one acre, as on the whole piece when I purchased it. 

 But I thhik it is not what it would iiave been had it never 

 been ploughed, for land that has onc3 been worn out by ex- 

 cessive tillage without manure, although it may lay unculti- 

 vated or pastured for a long series of years, will not be what 

 it would have been, had it never been ploughed. About 

 four acres, which were covered with v/oou and bushes, have 

 been cleared, the land sowed with plaster, and it is now a first 

 rate pasture, far superior (as might be expected) to the old pas- 

 ture described above. One cutting of the bushes was sufficient, 

 as it usually is where plaster is used; not that the plaster in 

 any way prevents the growth of the bushes, but a thick growth 

 of grass springing up, the cattle, while feeding it, v.ill also 

 feed the tender sprouts, and soon eradicate the buslies. Bushes, 

 however, that the cattle will not eat, such as sweet fern, 

 hard-hack, ground hemlock, &c., will require occasional 

 cutting, or pulling up by the roots. In the above case, the 

 brush and bushes were not burned, but rotted on the land, 

 which 1 think is much better than burning. The growth of 

 bushes was whortleberry, hazel-nut, witch-hazel, &c. 



On a dry part of the pasture, I spread on last year about 

 three cart loads of mud to the acre, which has improved the 

 pasture, and I think will pay the expense. The mud was 

 taken from a pond hole in the pasture, in August, 1852. It 

 appears to be rotten vegetable matter, not unlike common 

 meadow weed, but not peat. 



On some of my other pastures I have used leached ashes, 

 from 150 to 200 bushels to the acre, with good success. 



The first of June I had in my pasture thirty-seven cows, 

 four oxen, one yearling heifer and two horses. It was not 

 long, however, before the butchers commenced taking away 

 my beef cows, so that by the time of the severe drought, in 

 August, the number of my cows was considerably reduced. 

 Thus I had a tolerably good supply of feed through the dry 



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