115 



trees into good condition and bearing. I have been very care- 

 ful not to cut the tops excessively — never having allowed more 

 pruning than would clear out the dead wood and suckers ; for 

 I am satisfied that you may apply severe treatment to the root 

 of an old tree with benefit — but you cannot cut the top liber- 

 ally, either for grafting or pruning, without in a short time 

 destroying the tree. The land occupied by one orchard I have 

 devoted to grass crops — rye-grass, oats and barley cut green, 

 clover, &c., ploughing it every spring and manuring it fairly ; 

 and I have found it beneficial to the trees, besides giving me 

 as good crops as can be raised on shaded land. I would add 

 here, what I have repeatedly stated elsewhere, that I have no 

 faith in the profit of orchards. 



GRASS. 



Much of my land is devoted to grass, and is peculiarly 

 adapted to it ; and every course of husbandry which I adopt, 

 is with a view to obtaining as large a supply of this valuable 

 crop as possible. Herdsgrass and clover grow most readily on 

 the strong, clayey soil ; red-top is seldom seen, except slightly 

 intermixed with the herdsgrass ; and, when the latter has 

 run its course, it is followed by a thick, heavy, not coarse, 

 growth of clover. In seeding down land which has been de- 

 voted to a series of corn and root crops, I sow my grass seed 

 with barley, as the best grain I can find for the purpose. This 

 is done as early in the spring as the land will admit — early 

 sown barley being usually the best ; and, by thus making a long 

 season, I am supplied with a good cut of clover after the barley 

 is harvested. Half a bushel of herdsgrass, half a bushel of 

 red-top, and ten pounds of clover, is my rule for seeding. 



When I would renew the grass, in land which is too stiff" for 

 easy cultivation — and I have considerable of this — I plough 

 after haying, generally in August, and seed it down to grass 

 alone, using the quantities mentioned above, without the clover. 

 In doing this I plough eight inches, with any common sod- 

 plough, which will lay the furrow as level as possible ; I then 



