16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



kind) is to feed off too closely early in the spring or late in 

 the fall. In the one case, the growth for the summer is 

 directly retarded, in the other the slight protection the roots 

 need in winter is eaten off, and our severe winters kill some 

 of the roots. Worse than either is to let sheep stray over 

 them in winter when the ground is bare, or the very earliest 

 days of spring, when they gnaw down so very closely that the 

 bud or growing point, at the crown of the root, is eaten off, 

 and that shoot is effectually prevented from growing at all. 

 Thriftless farmers little realize how much a pasture may be 

 injured in this way. 



Weeds may infest a pasture, and how troublesome they are 

 depends upon the kind of soil, the kind of weeds, and the 

 particular locality. The only remedy for this is to wage a 

 war of extermination against them by all means within our 

 control, cut them down, dig them up, pull them out, any way 

 to squelch them, but always strive to choke them out with 

 grass. 



But there are mishaps that old pastures are subject to for 

 which I can suggest no remedy. At times diseases of the 

 grasses occur. Perhaps the most common cause of these is 

 parasitic fungi, and these in turn are closely dependant on 

 the weather. They may merely diminish the amount of for- 

 age ; or they may render it actually injurious to the cattle 

 which eat it. Several diseases of stock are attributed to this 

 cause. The wide spread belief that abortion of cows is caused 

 by fungi is an illustration, but whether this latter disease has 

 this cause or not, it is certain that there are diseases that may 

 be traced to this source, and how to remedy the evil I do not 

 know. 



Then again, worms and other insects often get in, and 

 cause great damage, the precise nature of which depends 

 upon the kind of offending insect. And for this malady I 

 can suggest no cure. Sometimes lime, sometimes wood ashes, 

 sometimes other things may help get rid of them, but often a 

 remedy is very hard to find. 



I have confined myself mostly to pastures rather than 

 meadows, but this lecture was announced to treat of both. 



