100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



coming to maturity at different periods so as to diffuse the labor 

 over a much longer period than at present, so that part may be 

 cut in June, part in July and the remainder in August. Slight 

 additions to the labor of the farm will thus enable us to secure all 

 the hay at the best possible periods. 



In the stocking of pasture grounds, a much greater variety of 

 grasses is desirable than can be admitted into meadows; it is of 

 little consequence in these at what time their flowering season 

 occurs as none of the culms should ever be permitted to blossom. 

 The great principle to be observed hero, is to provide such grasses 

 as will be in their highest vigor during every week from spring to 

 autumn, the earliest and the latest should be mixed with those 

 whose period of luxuriant growth is during the middle of summer. 

 In meadows, those species are most desirable which send up the 

 greatest amount of flowering culms ; in pastures, on the contrary, 

 culms are not desirable, but the radical leaves possess the greatest 

 value. Hence timothy, so valuable in a meadow, is of little use in 

 a pasture, being far inferior to Kentucky blue grass, and meadow 

 fox-tail, which put forth radical leaves in abundance. With these 

 two exceptions, the laying down of pastures is conducted on the 

 same principle as meadows. 



I trust the five .principles which I have just laid down all com- 

 mend themselves to your enlightened judgments. I do not believe 

 there is one among you who will refuse his assent to any one of 

 them. Yet there is not one of them which is not habitually 

 neglected in the practice of most farmers. I have examined the 

 statements of over 200 of them as recorded in the transactions of 

 State Society of New York, and in the agricultural journals, and 

 all, except about a dozen of them, sow no other seed than timothy 

 and clover. Of the exceptional dozen, one sowed a small field 

 with orchard grass, three of them mixed the seed of red-top with 

 their timothy and clover and the remainder were accustomed to 

 mix in the seed of the Kentucky blue-grass. Several of them are 

 aware of the advantage of cutting while in flower and strongly 

 commend the practice, but none of them advise the seeding of 

 meadows with such plants as will enable them to accomplish the 

 object, on the contrary, most of them sow clover and timothy 

 together notwithstanding they vary so widely in the period of 

 their elfiorescence. None of them seem to be aware of the wide 

 difference that exists among the different species with regard to 

 their nutritive properties, nor is there any allusion to the necessity 



