The Collaborative International Dictionary
Top-dress
Top-dress \Top"-dress`\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Top-dressed; p. pr. & vb. n. Top-dressing.] To apply a surface dressing of manureto,as land.
Wiktionary
top-dress
vb. To cover a surface with loose material; especially to cover newly-sown seeds with a light dressing of soil or fertilizer
Usage examples of "top-dress".
I should want 200 tons of this for the mangels and turnips, and the 300 tons I should want to top-dress 20 acres of grass land intended for corn and potatoes the next year.
It is true that there are the colleges for men, which still perform a good work--though some of them run a good deal more to a top-dressing of accomplishments than to a sub-soiling of discipline--but these colleges reach comparatively few.