8oo 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884. 



frequently, but never let sheep feed thereon for two sea- 

 sons, or they will bite the heart out of the young clovers ; 

 iind as natural meadows have not oii)y different species of 

 grasses, but these species comu more or less forward as 

 the season is wet or dry, select accordingly. 



Pastui'e lands are generally those of leather a poor char- 

 acter and not productive. However, in those districts cele- 

 brated for their grazing lauds as Normandy, Nivernais and 

 Hesbaye in Belgium, the lands are frequently turned into 

 pasture, not fields into cultivation. The rich pasturages 

 ■serve tor the fattening of cattle, as in the valley of the 

 Ouge aud Oalrados; others serve to keep cows and rear 

 young stock as in the north of France, the Vosges and the 

 Jm*a ; elsewhere, the pasturage is for horses and mules as 

 in Poiton. and the poorest lands support sheep, breed suit- 

 ing locality. It is rarely wise to break up good pasture 

 laud giving fair returns ; it is also a mistake to break up 

 poor grass soSs unless the farmer be prepared to apply rich 

 manurings. 



Land.s when grazed produce more, many think, than when 

 mown. The plants tiller better. The first inch of a blade 

 of grass grows more rapidly than the first, and the second 

 more than the third. The several short re-growths will in 

 the aggregate surpass the total length of that when mown. 



Never feed bare a field; give it rest and alternate the 

 animals ; divide the pasture land into sections, aud graze 

 accordingly ; give stock to be fattened off the best bites, 

 and do not torment them with such mixed company as 

 horses aud .sheep. Indeed, the latter ought ever to be sus- 

 pected, as they are very able in snatching up the tit-bits. 

 For cart horses they are better rested when fed in the 

 stable on soiling. It is now the custom to spread cracked 

 coke on the sward for fat-stock ; they pick it up with 

 aridity, and it hastens them for the butcher. 



A good pasturage ought not to be abused by being fed 

 bare. It should be in harmony with the breed of cattle. 

 The droppings or clots should be regularly spread out on 

 the land. It is a good plan to only allow sheep to suc- 

 ceed after cattle ; they and horses will eat the tufts and 

 fairy rings that cattle dislike. On no accoimt let pigs or 

 geese on paddocks ; their natiwal home is a special piece 

 of marsh laud. 



It is difficult to know to what couutry lielongs the honor 

 of discoveriug artificial meadows. Italy claims it from Ca- 

 miUo Tarello, whose work appeared in 1566. Hartlib does 

 not appear to have treated on the subject before the 

 seventeenth century. In any case it is only recently that 

 the artificial meadow ha* been called into practical rota- 

 tion use. Artificial meadows require good seed, good tilth 

 aud well-manured .soil ; they are generally sown in spring 

 with a cereal crop, but if rye grass, which grows so rapidly, 

 it is better to sow alone in autumn or after an early crop. 

 The .seed selected ought to be precocious, so as to conic 

 for the feeding or fattening of animals, when the natural 

 pasturage may be late. Ai'tificial grass land is the base 

 of all ameliorating and progressive agi-iculture. It is most 

 profitable when the grass, cut twice daily to avoid fer- 

 mentation, is gi\'en to stock in the house. Some farmers 

 adopt the pen system, and in Normandy, in the districts 

 of Caen and Oaux, the peg and rope plan is adopted. A 

 cord eleven feet long is divided into equal parts, passed 

 through oblique holes in a board 20 inches long and 4 

 wide; one end of the cord is attached to the sunken peg, 

 the other to the horn or neck. The rope is thus never 

 entangled nor the animals' legs caught; a sweep of 2A 

 feet or segment of sward is allowed. Thaer alleges cattle 

 give more milk when thus fed, that if pastured at large or 

 soiled. 



For Italian rye grass, obtain the best seed ; here it comes 

 directly from Italy. The seeds are brushed in, covered to 

 a good quarter of an inch and rolled. "N^Tien clover is era- 

 ployed, three or four varieties are selected, as it is rather 

 a tickle plant. A bushel of clover seed weighs 64 lb,, and 

 may contain from 16,000 to 54,000 seeds ; a bushel of rye 

 grass can vary from 15 to 30 lb., aud one ounce of seed 

 contains from 15,000 to 27,000 grains. 



Ensilage in France is now confined to experiments as to 

 dispensing with silas in masonry — all a matter of pounds, 

 shilluigs aud pence. The secret of en.silage resides in per- 

 fect compression of the mass and exclusion of che air. 

 These secured, the gi'een forage can be conserved under 

 a shed or in the open air. The first attempts at ensil- 



age failed, because eft'orts were made only to exclude the 

 air. It was M. Gotfart who demonstrated the necessity 

 of heavy and continuous pressure at the same time. Some 

 experiments made at the Agricultural Station of Miinster 

 demonstrate that maize is the best forage for ensilage ; 

 that the total loss can reach as high as 30 jter cent. The 

 proportion of tatty matters augment during fermeutation, 

 'while those ot a non-nitrogenous character diminish. The 

 sugar, gum, dextrine and similar carbon solubles are de- 

 composed and lost in the form of gas, but aromatics and 

 organic acids are formed, which compensate the loss. Fur- 

 ther, the maize is rendered more palatable and more easy 

 of digestion. 



The Cattle Show just held has been very successful, but 

 it must never be viewed as other than a display of fat 

 farm stock, a gathering for the butchers. For breeding 

 cattle it would be ever best to exhibit these apart in a 

 special annexe. The disjjlay of implements was especially 

 fine, and the bringing together of cylinders for flour mills, 

 instead of the old bun stoves, would alone pay the nation 

 for the exi)ense of the Show. There was .something new 

 in chm-ns and in chaffing machines. The exhibition of 

 farm-school requisites was a novelty. The prize ox was 

 a Dui-hara-Charolais, age 32 months 15 days, weight ISi 

 cwt. — the spine, though it had the curved line of beauty, 

 was not so graceful as it perfectly straight. In sheep, the 

 dishleys won : the three, aged 10 months and less fleeces, 

 weighed 3j cwt. ; in pigs, the Yorkshii-es carried otf the blue 

 ribbon : the prize, aged 12 months and 15 days, weight 5 

 cwt. 19 1b. 



The scholastic part of the Show consisted of botanical 

 collections on the part of masters and pupils of the prim- 

 ary schools where agriculture is taught. There were also 

 exliibited and recompensed specimens of the geology and 

 insectology of the locality and maps of the districts. An- 

 other feature, and which will come better into play next 

 year, was the reports by teachers and pupils on local sys- 

 tems of culture, manners, customs, habits, w.^ges, &.C., of 

 their region. A collection of such documents, handed over 

 to an editor with the patience of a Benedictine, to '"boil 

 down " and classify, would be worth cart-loads of ofiicial 

 Commissions' reports. Hitherto the Goverumont has rather 

 lent at aU the Agricultural Shows, to reward the large 

 agriculturists: so tar excellent ; for the futm-e rewards will 

 be made to suit the small farmers and their wants, as well 

 as kitchen-gardens and laborers' well-kept homes. 



Faimers and sugar-manufacturers are far from being 

 reconciled on the subject of beet. The fabricmts desire it 

 to be plainly understood that their mills exist for manu- 

 facturing sugar aud not for preparing pulp. 



Arboriculture aud the replanting of mountains are re- 

 ceiving marked attention. The phylloxera still holds its 

 ground, advancing, not retreating ; however, viucy.ards are 

 being replanted with American stocks, and the foe shows 

 no desir-e to come back. Those who can do so, intend try- 

 ing the summer irrigation of the vines. 



Weeds. — As early as the time of Alex.ander U. of Scotland, 

 a man who let weeds go to seed on a farm was declared to be 

 the king's enemy. In Denmark farmers arc compelled to 

 destroy all weeds on then- premises. In France a man may 

 prosecute his neighbor for damages who permits weeds to go 

 to seed wl ich may endanger neighboring lauds. — Leader. 



TuE A'.vx Plant in Algeeta. — It is satisfactory to learu 

 that, di'pite the rising among the Arabs in the southern 

 part of I ue province of Dran, in which the Alfa grass is so 

 largely rultivated, the rapid increase in the production of 

 that phiut has nut undergone any check. The Alfa grass is 

 now (jne of the chief staples of agricultural wealth in jUgeria, 

 it hi ing used, upon -the one hand, in large quantities for 

 paper making in England, while in the United States it is 

 converted into a pulj) ami makes very good imitation chiiui. 

 For a loug time the Alfa grass was unknown outside Algeria, 

 where it was merely used for making ropes, sandals, hats, 

 &c., but about twenty years ago its valuable properties 

 began to get known, and upwards of a thousand tons were 

 exported to Euglaud aud Spain. Seven years later the total 

 exports had risen to 42,369 tons, and since then they have 

 reached just double that amount. Out of the S3,223tons 

 exported last year, nearly 70,000 tons came to England. 

 The total value of the grass exported last year is estimated 

 ta baout XibO,m>.—Fiili. 



