286 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



both for grazing and for hay. It never says die. It is the first to furnish a 

 bite for the cattle in spring, is little affected by the droughts of July and 

 August, and continues growing until the severe cold of November locks up 

 the sources of nourishment. When cut or grazed it starts up with the vigor 

 of the fabled hydra. We advise no man to sow it on his lawn, for it 

 would need cutting every day before breakfast. If cut while in blossom, 

 both cattle and horses are exceedingly fond of the hay, and do well on it. If 

 left to stand until the seeds are matured, it becomes more tough and woody 

 than even timothy, and cattle will need to have their teeth sharpened to eat 

 it in this stage of its growth. * 



" Orchard grass loves a deep, rich, moist soil, and in such a soil no other 

 grass yields such an abundant harvest. Why it is so much neglected among 

 us we cannot divine, unless it is the fashion of sowing timothy and clover, 

 and fashion is as much a tyrant among farmers as among the ladies, though 

 showing his power in a different mode." 



A. W. Cheever, a most successful farmer and editor of Massachusetts, 

 writes: "I have now cultivated this grass some ten or twelve years, and feel 

 that I can speak of it understandingly. It is a grass that must be under- 

 stood to be appreciated. Grown on poor, dry land, by a poor, lazy farmer, 

 who is always behindhand with his work, it will not give satisfaction; but on 

 rich, moist land, capable of cutting two or three crops in a season, sown 

 thickly with a mixture of clover and June grass, or other kinds ripening at 

 or about the same time, and under the management of a wide-awake farmer, 

 I can confidently pronounce it the most valuable grass known in this country 

 aib the present time. It may be cut two or three times a year, producing 

 large crops of the very best of fodder, just as long as the fertility of the land 

 can be maintained by top dressing. It is the earliest grass in the spring and 

 the latest in the fall." 



E. H. Libby, in 1883, wrote me that " a little while ago the New England 

 Homestead contained namerous letters from farmers week after week, speak- 

 ing in the highest terms of this grass." 



T. D. Curtis, of New York, says: " Orchard grass is a most excellent hay 

 plant, but it requires a rich soil. A well-sodded pasture of this grass is a 

 thing to admire as well as for use and profit." 



Wm. Crozier, of New York, speaks as follows : 



" Heretofore the base grass in the Northern States has been timothy ; but 

 experiments that have been carried on for a period of twenty years have led 

 me to believe that orchard grass is much better fitted to be the leading kind 

 in mixtures, whether for pasture or for hay, or used alone or otherwise ; and 

 I place it far in advance not only of timothy, but of any other grass we have 

 thus far in cultivation. It is very early. The advantage of this earliness is 

 not only that it gives three weeks longer for the aftermath to grow, but 

 another reason, far more important, is, that at this date the white ox-eye 

 daisy and other troublesome weeds are not yet in a condition to seed, so that 

 should any of them happen to be in the fields, they are destroyed by being 

 cut before they have ripened their seeds." 



L. F. Allen, of Buffalo, N. Y., approves of a favorable article in the New 

 York Tribune, saying: " I have had it in continuous mowing and pasturage 

 for upwards of forty years without disturbing it. As a market hay, I admit 

 that timothy is more salable, because town's people do net know the value 

 of the orchard grass, which is just as good for any kind of animal." 



