(122) 



Kentucky and Virginia ; phosphate of lime from South Car- 

 olina ; bone dust from the large cities, and many other mix- 

 tures and compounds. But scarcely a farmer but what has 

 at his command a manure, rich in every respect and with 

 the addition of a cheap alkali, equal in chemical properties 

 to cow dung : I mean the scrapings of ponds, and the mud 

 of rivers and creeks. West Tennessee has an area containing 

 pure muck, the balance of the State has no such advantage; 

 but next to muck, and nearly as valuable, is pond and river 

 mud. By the addition of two pounds of sal soda or potash, 

 such as is used for washing purposes, to 100 lbs. of muck, 

 the mass becomes, as near as possible, cow dung. So here 

 we have an almost inexhaustible supply of cow dung, 

 without its smell or offensiven^ss. The green sand beds 

 in West Tennessee also will supply fertilizers in unlimited 

 quantities. 



•Here then, the provident farmer has all that is requisite 

 to enrich his grounds before seeding to grass. It is need- 

 less to say that clover, as a preceding crop to land that is 

 about to enter the long and tedious travail of meadow, is 

 absolutely requisite. But after it is started, the farmer need 

 not think, for one moment, that grass adds to its fertility. 

 It does not, but on the other hand detracts just what the 

 farmer cuts oflF; and if he is a wise farmer, he will put it 

 back in a shape to increase his drafts on it. 



When a meadow or pasture becomes packed, from too 

 much pasturage, it will be well enough to run a sub-soil 

 through it occasionally. This loosens the under sod, and 

 the narrow helve does not tear up the turf. Of course the 

 land has been, if required, well drained. In addition to 

 this, for the renovation of such lands, the application of ma- 

 nure is indispensable. It should be applied immediately 

 after a cutting, as it will stimulate the roots, made weak by 

 being deprived of their foliage, to renewed growth, and pre- 

 vent much of it from dying. Of course it must be done by 

 top dressing, and by far the most efficacious plan is to apply 



