104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



destroyed the whole is goue. Mice, every winter, destroy an al- 

 most incredible number. Wherever fall feeding is practiced, (and 

 it will be to a considerable extent, let you or I say what we will 

 to the contrary) sheep and horses destroy as many more, They 

 are very fond of them and will get them whenever and wherever 

 they can. • They graze very close, and wherever a bulb shows, 

 they take it, even if they take a little of the soil with it. The 

 consequence is herds-grass runs out sooner than almost any other 

 grass. In some places in Piscataquis county, herds-grass has 

 rusted so badly for the last two yeai-s as to be almost worthless. 



Four 3'cars ago I saw two and a half tons of clover and lierds- 

 grass cut from one acre of ground, and. probably more than three- 

 fourths of that was clover. The next year there was scarcely one 

 and a half tons, and the larger part of that was herds-grass. The 

 third 3'ear there was less than one ton and no clover, and last year 

 there was less than three-fourths of a ton, including the hercls- 

 grass and all the native grasses and weeds that had volunteered 

 to assist in making up the crop. And in this case the native 

 grasses and weeds amounted to more than the herds-grass. You 

 may well ask, why this failure ? To me tlie reasons are plain, for 

 I Know the land and the manner of cultivation. The reasons are — 

 want of drainage — want of manure and clean cultivation — want of 

 sufficient seed, and want of variety of seeds. If that same field 

 had been attended to as it should have been before seeding, and 

 orchard grass and red-top taken the place of the other two, or 

 sown with them, w.ith an addition of two or three native grasses, 

 it would probably have yielded as good a crop the tenth year as 

 it did the third. 



Orchard grass is more luxuriant in growth and quite as nutritious 

 food either for grazing or for hay. It furnishes grazing earlier in 

 spring, roots deeply and is consequently less affected by the 

 droughts of summer, and continues growing until covered by the 

 snows of winter; and yields a more abundant harvest than any 

 other grass, with one exception 



In speaking of it, Mr. Hyde of Lee, Mass., quotes the following 

 from the late Judge Buel, who was one of the most discerning ob- 

 servers of everything pertaining to agriculture : " The American 

 cock's-foot or orchard grass is one of the most abiding grasses we 

 have. It is probably better adapted than any other to sow with 

 clover and other seeds for permanent pasture, or for hay, as it is 

 fit to cut with clover, and grows remarkably quick when cropped 



