VIXE BORDERS. 



for it is only ia this way that a close, tight sward can be obtained, and that after 

 two or three seasons of experiment and growth. They understand this business 

 better in England than we do, because they have done more at it ; still we can by a 

 little practice learn enough to answer all useful purposes. 



Where the lawns are several acres in extent, the practice of cutting with a scythe 

 would be slow, laborious, and expensive. In this case, we think that the grass mio-ht 

 be fed down by sheep. This could be done by enclosing the sheep with a cheap 

 wire hurdle fence, to be moved over the lawn as the grass is fed down, and so after 

 the ground is all gone over the first plat will be ready for the sheep again. Then the 

 sheep would scatter their droppings, or manure, over the surface, and it being of such 

 a fine quality it would be the best top-dressing the lawn could have. 



In my former article on grasses, I forgot to mention Orchard grass as being a kind 

 of grass which is worthy the attention of persons generally for cultivation. This is 

 one «f the earliest in the season of all cultivated grasses, and for this reason it is worthy 

 the attention of the farmer to cultivate it for early feed. In ordinary seasons it will 

 be from four to five inches high by the 20th of May, so that cattle can get a good bite 

 and fill themselves ; and by the 10th or 15th of June it will be fit to cut for hay, as it 

 will be in full bloom. We consider it worth more for pasture, as like clover it will 

 grow up as often as it is fed down. The greatest diflBculty is in getting a good catch 

 of the seed when sown, as it is very apt to come up in separate tufts or patches. But 

 where it covers the ground well it grows more rapid, and furnishes more feed in a 

 given time than clover. Cattle like it, we think, quite as well as they do clover, and 

 it should be fed down as often as it gi'ows up through the season. 



VINE BORDERS. 



BT H. W. S. CLEVELAND, BURLINGTON, K. J 



A CONTROVERSY has arisen of late years relative to the use of slaughter-house manures, 

 carcasses of animals, &c., as a material in the composition of vine borders. The 

 practice has been violently assailed, and we have been assured by high authorities 

 that not only should we thus destroy the roots of our vines but that the presence of 

 such matter would render the soil a sodden mass which they never could penetrate or 

 thrive in. Much of the difference of opinion on the subject (as usual in controversies) 

 has been caused by a misunderstanding. The best authorities I have seen in favor of 

 the practice, do not recommend a direct application of such material to the roots of a 

 growing vine, but only that it should be placed where the roots should find it when it 

 was properly decomposed and fit for their use. To this, the others reply that the roots 

 have no power of selection but must of necessity go ahead, and when they run foul of 

 this stuff it will certainly kill them. A little reflection will upset this theory. We 

 know that roots grow by sending out fibres, which at first are exceedingly fine 

 increase in size by the nourishment they meet with in their course. If one of 



