THE GRASSES, MEADOWS, ETC. 125 



SPTTRRY (Spergula arvensis, Fig. 31) might probably be 

 introduced into American husbandry 

 for forage, with decided advantage. 

 It is a hardy plant, and grows spon- 

 taneously in the middle States. Its 

 chief merit consists, in its growing 

 on soils too thin to bear clover. On 

 such, it can be judiciously used to 

 bring them up to the clover-bearing 

 point, from which they can be taken, 

 and carried forward much more 

 rapidly by the clovers. Van Voght 

 says, " it is better than red or white 

 FIG. 31. clover; the cows give more and bet- 



ter milk when fed on it, and it improves the land in an ex- 

 traordinary degree. If the land is to lie several years in 

 pasture, white clover must be sown with it. When sown 

 in the middle of April, it is ripe for pasture by the end of 

 May. If eaten off in June, the land is turned flat and ano- 

 ther crop is sown, which affords fine pasture in August and 

 September. This operation is equivalent to a dressing of 

 ten loads of manure per acre. The blessing of spurry, the 

 clover of sandy lands, is incredible when rightly employed." 

 Three crops can be grown upon land in one season, which, if 

 turned in or fed on the* ground, can be made a means of 

 rapid improvement to the soil. 



PASTURES. 



It is too often the case, that pastures are neglected, and 

 like woodlands, are allowed to run to such vegetation as un- 

 assisted nature may dictate. As a necessary consequence, 

 their forage is frequently meagre and coarse, and incapable, 

 either in quantity or quality, of supporting half the number 

 of cattle in a poor condition, that might otherwise be full- 

 fed from the same surface. But if we consider, that pastures 

 furnish most of the domestic stock with their only food, for 

 seven months of the year at the North, and generally for 

 nine or ten months at the South, they may well be deemed 

 worthy the particular attention of the farmer. 



Pastures ought to be properly divided, and it is a diffi- 

 cult point to determine between the comparative advantages 

 of small ranges, and the expense and inconvenience of keep- 

 ing up numerous divisions. The latter require a large out 

 lay on every farm, not only for the first cost of materials and 



