Surface Manuring

The Genesee Farmer saya rauoh has been writton ia praiso of surfaue manuring withiu the last few years. Oa every now topic men are apt to allow their hands to run to oxtremes. We have no doubt that surfaoe manurhig muy be praotieed with benefit within certain limits. Ou low, wet isnds, wheru the soil is very thin, wo should adviae this mode of practice. We hare seen the heaviost crops of graas from this method, of any wo ever witnessed. ïhe freshets that overflow our intervalos will often ieava a sodiinent froin which the largest crops of hay are reaiized. On the other hand a larg per ceut of the manure is lost by top dressing on dry land, and espeoially with loam mtvnuro. We saw a ourioua illustration of this a few years sinoe. A neighbor kopt a horse and oow, aod not being in a situation to make uso of the manure in cultivation, he ordered it haulad out and aproad in an old oro'aard. The oonsoqueooe was ihat tho ground beoamo coinplotoly bound up. Instoad of a urge erop of grass, aa was aetioipated, it aotually diminished. Siuoe that he haa ploughed in his manure, and ha3 recüived heavy orops. We reoolleot of top dressing a pieoo of sandy loam with muok direetly from the swainps. The consequenca was that a few 6talks of herdsgrass grow very tall, but there was no thiokening up oí the grasaes on the eurfaco of the ground. It may bo regarded a3 a fixed rule that plaDts of rapid growth, like those of our oultivated erops, roquire the manure to be incorporated with tho soil to insuro thoir quick dovelopmont. Trees grow rapidly when thoro ia a covering of vegetable inould upon tho surfaco of tbc earth. A covering of partially deoayed leaves preveuta the evaporation of moisture from going on so rupidly, while thor slow but uniform dooay furnishes food for the treea. Houoe tbo advantagea of rnulching trees. We kuow oí no botter oondition in whieh to seoura a good erop, than by thoroughly iucorporatiug au abundanoe of manure with tho soil. Merely plowing in manure is not alwaya tho best economy. We have seen borso mauuro plowed undor a groon sward early in the fall where it became á dry and inert substanoe of no sort of valuó tu a futuro erop. Ashes and piastor may often bo found benefiQinl as a top dressing, but in thesa cases wo should pivfer to use tLcm with a gr:iin erop aud harrow them in. When meadowa are well drained, and of easy aocess, top dressing will bo practieed more than heretofore in this Ötate. Thora are 15,446 gipïiea and "traiups" i iu Groat lirituiu.