PERMANENT PASTURES. 'J I 



pasturage. Fourth, iu restockiug lauds to grass, red clover 

 and herds-grass are the only varieties in general use, neither 

 of which is well adapted to grazing. Red clover is a biennial 

 plant, and disappears at the close of the second season ; herds- 

 grass, the most valuable variety we have for hay, is entirely 

 unsuited for a pasture grass, as it is quickly destroyed by 

 close feeding. Fifth, on lands however fertile and well cared 

 for, it requires several years for the varieties of grasses most 

 valuable for pasturage to become firmly established, forming 

 a close, thick-set turf, filled with a large number of varieties 

 of grasses which will produce a uniform growth of sweet, 

 nutritious feed, peculiarly acceptable to the stock fed upon 

 them. Land devoted to pasturage, which may by proper 

 treatment be brought up to this condition and kept perma- 

 nently productive, ought not to be disturbed by the plow. 



The direct advantages claimed in keeping pastures perma- 

 nently in grass, in the best farmed sections of New York, 

 Vermont and Connecticut, are, first, pastures kept perma- 

 nently in grass contain a large number of varieties, which 

 differ in their season of growth and maturity, thus producing 

 a constant and uniform yield of fresh feed throughout the 

 season. Second, experience has taught them that old pas- 

 tures make more growth in young stock, cows fed upon them 

 yield richer milk, and beef animals take on flesh and fat more 

 rapidly than in pastures recently re-seeded. Third, on these 

 old, permanent pastures the grass starts earlier in the spring, 

 suffers less from summer drought, and continues growing and 

 luxuriant later in the fall. Fourth, it requires less labor and 

 outlay for fertilizers, to keep the pasture permanently in grass 

 than to frequently plow, manure, and re-seed. 



If, after careful consideration we are led to adopt as a gen- 

 eral rule of practice, not to interfere with the grasses already 

 growing in our pastures, then we are ready for the second 

 part of the topic, viz : ways and means for their renovation 

 and improvement. What to do with the pastures we now 

 have, how to restore them to other uses or renovate them for 

 pasturage, are questions vital to the farming interests of 



