98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



For the N'eio England Farmer. 

 QUERIES ABOUT TOP-DBESSING. 



Hay is a profitable crop in this lumber region, 

 as large demands are made on the farmer for it, 

 to take into the woods to carry on lumber opera- 

 tions. I have thirty acres improved land, which 

 has all been laid down to gi'ass within three years, 

 and now yields on an average one ton of good 

 Northern clover and herdsgrass per acre. I am 

 wintering one hundred and twelve sheep, one 

 horse and three cows. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to manage this piece 

 of land, which is a light sandy loam, free from 

 rocks and stumps, and smooth as your lovely Com- 

 mon, and its gently undulating surface — almost a 

 J'ac simile — so as to reap the richest harvest pos- 

 sible with the least expense, and just as you would 

 manage your paper, or any professional man his 

 business, expecting to be rewarded commensurate 

 with the capital and skill brought to bear in its 

 management. It costs from eight to ten dollars 



{)er acre to plow, harrow and reseed land. It 

 ooks to me suicidal to destroy the young, healthy 

 grass roots, by turning over this land this coming 

 spring, merely to put under the ground the drop- 

 pings of my stock, and next season to be at the 

 expense of buying grass seed again, which, by 

 droughts, may or may not come up. Your paper 

 advises the top-dressing of grass land after hay- 

 ing, or immediately before the fall rains set in. 



The query in my mind is, whether it is best to 

 lose the interest of, or use of this amount of ma- 

 nure one season, or to compost it early in May, 

 ■with soil, and spread over this field. My mind is 

 fully made up to use this manure for top-dressing 

 this coming spring, or after haying. Can I add 

 any virtue to this top-dressing by keeping it 

 housed three months, and then applying it, that I 

 could not add before May next ? Will any chem- 

 ical change come over this manure that will pay 

 the loss of interest by applying it after the com- 

 ing hay crop is harvested, that could not be 

 brought about in season for the increase of this 

 year's crop ? 



There, Mr. Editor, I have read the above, to 

 one of my neighbors, to see what he thinks, and 

 here is his opinion. He would haul out of the 

 bogs which abound hei"e, as many loads of muck 

 as I have other dressing, and compost the muck 

 with lime, and then compost the whole together 

 and spread on the land in the fall. I am not a 

 convert to his plan, and for this analogy : If I 

 have a hundred dollars ready to put to interest, I 

 see no reason why I should wait till I could get 

 another hundred dollars before I invested the first 

 sum. The barnyard compost, I grant, would im- 

 prove the quality of the muck compost ; but the 

 muck comjjost would not improve the barnyard 

 compost only in bulk, and the result would be, if 

 I followed my neighbor's suggestion, that you 

 ■would hear from me, as you now hear from your 

 numerous correspondents extolling muck at the 

 expense of good, old-fashioned, substantial ma- 

 nure — barnyard manure. And the muck would 

 thus have the credit of being found in good com- 

 pany. 



The town of Greenbush has, I verily believe, 

 one-fourth of its surface covered with boggy land, 

 the muck varying from six inches to sLx feet. 

 The bogs are covered with spruce, hackmetack, or 

 juniper trees, hardback bushes, mosses and cran- 



berry vines. Now, if I owed my neighbor a mor- 

 tal grudge, I should consider that he was amply 

 punished should I be able to cover his land with 

 this sour, detestable material. He certainly would 

 have sufficient cause for an action in law to recov- 

 er the value of his farm for damages. Not so, 

 however, with muck from swamps or bogs that 

 grow hard wood, such as swamp or river maple, 

 black ash and yellow birch, the leaves of which 

 fall annually, and make a deposit rich in vegeta- 

 ble matter. This muck mania among farmers 

 needs to be better understood before experiments 

 are made on a very extensive scale. 



Chakles S. Weld. 

 Greenbush, Me., Jan. 30, 1863. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent ■writes loith a 

 will, as though his heart were in his work. We 

 like it. The advice of your " neighbor " is just 

 what we should give, if the muck were old and 

 fine, for it is probably just what your " sandy loam 

 land " needs. But if the muck is not tempered 

 by age, suns, frosts and winds, we would haul out 

 the manure immediately, pile into convenient 

 heaps, and just as fast as the frost would permit 

 overhaul it, throwing it up lightly, and continue 

 to do so, if there Avas a prospect of getting it fine 

 enough to spread upon the land by the first of 

 April. If not, spread it now, and work it down 

 as fine as possible where it lies, before the heavy 

 spring rains fall. There cannot be much loss by 

 evaporation, because no fermentation will take 

 place as long as the manure is cold. 



For the Xeiv England Farmer, 

 BAILROAD FENCES. 



Mr. Editor : — I propose to give expression to 

 some ideas upon the above subject, suggested 

 principally by the course pursued by the Fitch- 

 burg Railroad Corporation the past year. This 

 company obtained its charter the 4th of March, 

 1842, and the road was so far completed in the 

 spring of 1845, as to be opened for the convey- 

 ance of passengers. 



The land damages were awarded with the un- 

 derstanding that all necessary fences should be 

 built and maintained by the corporation ; and this 

 has been done until the past season, when a cir- 

 cular was sent to the landholders on the line of 

 the road, containing a copy of the 43d and 104th 

 sections of the 63d chapter of the general statutes 

 of this State, and notifying them that henceforth 

 tlmi must make, maintain and keep in repair suit- 

 able fences on their land adjacent to the railroad, 

 or be liable for all damages which may arise from 

 neglecting so to do. 



Admitting the position assumed by the direc- 

 tors of the Fitchburg Railroad to be lawful, (which 

 some are supposed to doubt,) I suppose it may be 

 a question whether in the end it will prove expe- 

 dient ; for if persons possessing but little proper- 

 ty improve land adjoining the road, and in conse- 

 quence of their neglect to maintain the fence, se- 

 rious accidents shoidd happen and heavy dama- 

 ges arise, the company might be led to entertain 

 the opinion expressed by their first President to 

 one of the farmers in North Leominster, when 

 settling with him for damage. He said they pre- 



