418 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



TOP DRESSING GRASS LANDS. 



Now is the time to commence the preparation 

 of materials for this important work. Some per- 

 sons doubt whether the application of manure to 

 the surface of grass lands is the best mode of 

 using it. This depends upon two or three cir- 

 cumstances, viz : 



1. Upon the nature of the soil. 



2. Upon the time of application. 



3. Upon the condition of the dressing. 



Top dressing will continue to bring a crop 

 longer on a moist soil than on a dry one, first be- 

 cause such land is the best adapted to grass, and 

 secondly, because the manure, by being kept moist, 

 is brought into a state of decomposition, and be- 

 comes prepared as food for the plants, instead of 

 drying up. Top dressings, therefore, for high 

 lands, should be applied in the spring, as early as 

 March or the first part of April, so as to receive 

 the early rains, and get thoroughly leached, and 

 the coarser particles washed down among the 

 roots of the grass, before the hot and dry weath- 

 er comes on. Or, it may be applied — and per- 

 haps with better effect — late in November, where 

 it will receive the later rains and be leached by 

 them, or be covered with snow to be melted upon 

 the dressing, and thus carry its fertilizing prop- 

 erties gradually to the grass roots during the win- 

 ter and spring. 



It is unpopular — we are fully aware — to recom- 

 mend top dressing for high and dry grass lands ; 

 still we believe it to be a profitable way of fer- 

 tilizing, when it is done judiciously. The error 

 consists in cropping the land for many years, 

 without manuring, until not only the fertilizing 

 agents are exhausted, but the I'oots of the grass 

 themselves have either died for want of food, or 

 have been driven out by plants more hardy and 

 persistent than themselves. When a field is in 

 this condition, it is folly to top dress it. There 

 is no basis upon which to act. The dressing was 

 deferred too long — there is no recuperative pow- 

 er left. The remedy for such land is through the 

 plow, manure, cultivation and plenty of seed, or 

 all these, excepting the cultivation, which may be 

 omitted by turning over the sod and laying down 

 in August, or early in September. 



In a wet season something may be done on high 

 land by spreading fine compost manure liberally, 

 scattering on grass seed and harrowing. Clover, 

 sown early in April, in this way, will sometimes 

 succeed well. If the farmer would be watchful, 

 manure his fields in season, occasionally scatter- 

 ing a little seed over them, while producing liber- 

 al crops, he might save considerable expense in 

 plowing and re-seeding. All this, however, should 

 not prevent a judicious rotation of crops, and, in 

 turn, bringing the grass fields into cultivated 



ones, which is undoubtedly the course that will 

 secure the most certain profits. 



The time when top dressing should be applied, 

 is a question upon which our best farmers do not 

 agi-ee. What is needed, is a copious rain imme- 

 diately after the dressing is spread ; but as we 

 cannot command this, we must exercise a sound 

 judgment in the matter, and be content with the 

 result. If the compost cart could follow that 

 which carries away the hay, and a liberal shower 

 follow, perhaps there would be no better time to 

 apply the dressing ; and in a moderately moist 

 season, this course will succeed well. March, 

 and early April are good seasons, but then the 

 objection exists of cutting up the fields by the 

 feet and wheels of the team. In the autumn 

 there is little danger of this, unless the season be 

 very wet, the more pressing work of the warm 

 season is out of the way, and upon the whole, 

 perhaps this is the best season for this operation. 



The third point requiring care, is the condition 

 of the dressing when it is used. It should be 

 rich, that is, made of good materials, and fermen- 

 tation not carried so far as to set free its gaseous 

 properties, and then it should be fine — if as fine 

 as sand so much the better. This will allow of 

 its being spread evenly, and present such a sur- 

 face to the rains and dews as to have every part 

 of it quickly penetrated, and its fertilizing prop- 

 erties carried to the roots below. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CUTTING AND SEASONING TIMBER. 



Much has been written and said in relation to 

 cutting timber ; of the durability of timber ; of 

 the condition and season when cut, as aff'ecting 

 its durability. This seems to me a waste of words 

 and ink. Wood workers, from necessity, must 

 and do cut their timber, most kinds and for most 

 purposes, in the winter — and work all winter too, 

 not regarding the changes of the moon or scarce- 

 ly of the weather, in order sufficiently to stock 

 their mills. It is true, timber might be cut in the 

 fall and left on the ground to be drawn in the 

 winter, but wood workers do not operate on that 

 plan at all. Hemlock must, of necessity, be cut 

 when the bark can be taken off. Hemlock is 

 sometimes cut in winter and the logs peeled in 

 the ensuing summer, but I doubt if there is a man 

 in all New England who knows in which case, if 

 either, the lumber is the more durable. 



Timber of all kinds, cut at any season of the 

 year, will be injured more or less if suffered to 

 remain in the log with the bark on, exposed to 

 the sun and weather during summer. But man- 

 ufacturers don't let their logs lie about all sum- 

 mer, except in hard times like these. I am not 

 prepared to say at what time timber contains the 

 most sap, but I know that it contains a large 

 amount in winter, and when cut then, retains it 

 in the log all summer ; and I find by actual and 

 accurate experiment, that birch, sawed into pieces 

 4 feet wide by 1^ inches square, and left stand- 



