The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-08-21
dltions by top-dresslpg with green manure in

August.
changed the conditions of a field by top.
dressing with green barn manure IN June, al
ter cutting the first crop of grass; cut sec
ond crop in August; and, late in OCTOBER, 1
cut a good third crop. By top dressing, the
conditions were changed so that needed my
machine in October. Without that dressing
would not have needed it for that land af-
ter the first of July.
When is it best to leave the September and
October growth on the land? / think it had
better be left whenever the land is not fertile
enough for one to expect his grass to fall
down sbefore it blossoms-why? Because
thick grass which does not, in a favorable
seasons, fall before it blossoms, ihas not all
the plant food it can use. Now, if the fall
growth is left, and if as I think, what the
grass loses while ripenlDg and drying on the
roots, returns directly to the roots, they are
in very much better condition to grow in the
spring than they would be without that help
AS understand il, the case is like this: II
a man must do days work upon the food
he eats before going to bed the night before
the work is to be done, it is better for him
to 60 to bed full, but, if he feels sure of a
good breakfast in the morning, it is better for
him not eat the late supper; so with the
grass; if the land is poor, and the grass is
net to be fed in any other way, better feed 1t
with grass than let it starve.
1t seems to me that the process by which
the next seasons crop is benefited by leaving
the fall growth of this season on the land is
an internal process rather than an external
one. l have never been able to find any
proof that there is any value in the fall
growth as winter blanket, or as summer
mulch.
In California, l have frequently seen two
tons to the acte left on the ground from one
season to the next. have seen land by the
side, with nothing but the short stubble LETT
by the moving machine, grow nearly as good
crop as the land not moved. Perhaps there
is no place where mulch, properly applied, is
more useful than it is in California. I have
often asked myself, why leaving one seasons
growth did not make more increase in the
next crop. think, with the permanent
grasses OF New England, to leave the growth
OF one season would make perceptible in
crease in the next seasons crop.
Now if grass, the roots of which live
through the winter, is benefited, and the
wild oats, which grow from the seed each
year, are not benefited, the benefit cannot
come from the crop left acting as a mulch
for in that case, think one crop would be
benefited as well as the other. Two or three
tons to the acre, left on the land, is not in
condition to operate as mulch the first sea-
son after being left. It operates as shade.
Any covering OF land, to operate as mulch,
must be thick enough and in such close con-
tact with the earth that the point of contact
is constantly kept moist
After many years of study and observa.
ton about mulching and shading, assisting
and checking evaporation, am, at present,
confident that the questions, when to leave,
| the September and October growth of grass
on our moving fields, can be correctly an
| swered from the plant food standpoint. If
fOOd ia nlQntU II the prOUfb if not Loaf
it. also think that the system of farming
which permits it to be use is in advance Of
the system which requires it to be lett.
think that grass land, to do its best,
should be MANFRED every year. The mechana
ical condition of land is important, as well as
its chemical. I once heard a man say the
chemical composition of Bunker Hill was
about right for growing cabbages; its me-
chauical condition was not.
The mechanical condition of much New
England farm land is not as it should be to
| get the full benefit of its chemical capacity.
So confident am l that top dressing grass
land every year with coarse, green manure
| will improve its mechanical as well as chemi-
| cal conditian, that expect to work into the
way of putting all my manure on the grass,
and not manuring when plough, plant and
| re-seed; thereby reversing the common New
England practice. When get to it, 1 hope
W IepUIG TeSutlS Wuclutr ouCCcsslul VI Otucl-
wise.
The best have seen about pasturing now
ing fields was In recent number of the
american Agriculturist. saying: Gas a gen.
eral rule, it is better to avoid pasturing mead
ows after the growth has ceased ior the sea-
son. But there are exceptions to this rule,
there being some cases in which we would
pasture as closely as possible. Where the
soil is rich and the the aftermath heavy, there
may be moss of dried dead stuff in the bot
tom next year which will interfere much with
the moving unless it is pastured down now;
for this case, we would pasture the meadow
closely, and give some top-dressiDg if neces-
sary, taking care to spread the droppings of
the stock evenly.
Again, strong but thin clover and grass
will be benefited by close pasturing, by which
the stubble will be eaten off, the coarse
growth rendered finer and closer, and the
yield of next season be improved in quality.
A moderate top-dIessing of fine manure will
be Of more value :han all the stubbly alter
math."
like to NOW or feed the aftermath before
the growth for the season has fully stopped,
and prefer coarse topdressing to fine. With
these changes, 1 like that article.-A. W.
Putnam in Neov England Farmer.