No. 4 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



214 



ON ARTIFICIAL, GRASSES, 



By John Taylor of Caroline. 



From the Papers of the Agricultural Society of Vir- 

 ginia, in 1818. 



It is universally aijreed, that a constant impo- 

 verishtneiit of huid musr ensue from tilla;L!;e, with- 

 out I he renovaiion pruJuced hy manure tuid stable 

 inatler. 



Hence the cheapest and most ample su[)plies of 

 these renovations is a primary object ; as neither 

 the improvement nor preservation of tlie soil can 

 be eti'ected without usin;^; the means. It was seen, 

 as early as in the time of Coliimelia, that the el- 

 Ibrts of nature to furnish us with these means, 

 without the aid of culture and art, were incompe- 

 tent to the end ; and nearly equivalent in value, 

 to the spontaneous supply ol' Ibod by the wilder- 

 ness, compared with tlie supply from industry and 

 cultivation. Writers reason from this discovery 

 as an axiom, and prove that the li^rtilily of old 

 countries bears a strict relation to the use made of 

 it. Egypt itself owes its lertility to its annual 

 alluvion manurini;. Thus the culture of artificial 

 grasses attracted great attention,' wherever a sj's- 

 tem of aifricullure existed, worthy of any degree 

 of cotmiiendaiion; it being seen that the prosper- 

 ity of nations, as well as of farmers, was evident- 

 ly graduated by the degrees of skdl and industry 

 with which this axiom was practised upon; and 

 that they were the chief means lor its practical 

 eH'ect. Whilst a country is fresh and the s.'nl sat- 

 urated with vegetable manure, it constitutes a 

 temporary case ; and a vast extent of uncleared 

 lanils will long keep out ol view the means of 

 preserving the good, and improving the exhaust- 

 ed. But when it has passed the vigor of youth, 

 and exhibits the marks of old age, the alternative of 

 reducing it to barrenness, or of ailopting the only 

 mode in existence tor restoring its lertility, lies be- 

 fore the eyes of its inhabitants. Excepting a lew 

 strips ol alluvion land, there is no cultivated coun- 

 try, in which a dependance upon the natural 

 grasses is more hopeless than in Virginia. A thin 

 soil, exposed to hot and dry summers, not only 

 prevents our lands from clothing and nourishing 

 themselves, but has at length rendered them even 

 unable to raise working animals for their own 

 cultivation, and a sufficient sup[ily of meat, milk, 

 and butter, for their own cultivators. A remedy 

 for this state of thin<j:s is necessary to stop the 

 emigration from Virginia and to prevent its ulti- 

 mate depopulation. If the culture of artificial 

 grasses is the chief remedy, it can onlv be over- 

 looked, because it is not embellished by the glitter- 

 ing ornaments of novelty, and only assumes the 

 plain garb of reason and experience. 



Before the effects produced by a skilful culture 

 of the artificial grasses, are enumerated, let us 

 take a glance at them, collectively, in other coun- 

 tries. In Holland, where the cultivation of grass 

 is generally preterred to that of bread, land sells 

 higher as land, without having its price enhanced 

 by adventitious circumstances, than in any other 

 country. The industrious and profit-loving Dutch, 

 choose rather to import than to raise their own 

 bread-stuff at the expense of diminislunii- the cul- 

 ture of artificial grasses. They are as little likely 

 as any people in the world, to make an election 

 by which they would lose money. In England, 



the cultivation of grass is so much more profita- 

 ble, than that of bread-stuH', as to have obtained a 

 prelcrence, at the expense of considerable impor- 

 tations of the latter. The bearings of this fact 

 are weighty. Hay and butcher's meat in Eng- 

 land are nearly of the same prices as in this coun- 

 try — whereas, wheat there, is ollen tliree times 

 dearer than wheat here, and seldom less than dou- 

 ble in price. Yet the English farmers preler rais- : 

 ing artificial grasses, to raising wheat. Again, 

 the rent as well as price of land, is constantly 

 highest in those countries, where the cilture of 

 artificial grasses is pushed larthest. In England, 

 the rent of fine artificial meadows sometimes ex- 

 tends to twenty dollars an acre, rarely diminishes 

 to ten, and is never as low as the rent of adjoining 

 arable land, however good. As the rate of rent ' 

 is settled by the rate of profit, it follows that even 

 there, where the prices of meat and hay approach 

 nuich nearer to our prices, than the price ot 

 wheat, it is most profitable to raise the articles of 

 inferior price. JMucli light may also be extracted 

 from a comparison between the general rate of 

 rent here and in England. It must be our best 

 land which would rent at one dollar an acre lor a 

 term of twenty-one years; and even at ihis low 

 rent, both the land and the tennant are generally 

 ruined. In England, much of the arable land 

 rents at about ten dollars an acre, and its averaire 

 rent is about six. But there, the culture of artifi- 

 cial grasses, is invariably mingled with the culture 

 of grain. Now, when we see the best grazing 

 land there renting higher than the best arable 

 Kuid, and their farms renting ten times higher 

 than ours, does it not plainly follow, that both a 

 great profit and vast improvement of the soil, 

 must arise from the culture of artificial grassses ; 

 and that the ditferience in rent between their liu'nis 

 and ours, is in a great measure produced by the lat- 

 ter circumstances ? Tins conclusion is warranted 

 by the fact, that the longer the term of a lease is, 

 the higher is the rent there, and the lower here; 

 because the tennant in one case calculates upon a 

 mode of tillage, which will improve the land, and 

 in the other, upon its becoming poorer. What, 

 but the use of artificial grasses, and their exclu- 

 sion, has made both these calculations correct ? 



Let us now resort to indiijenous (ijcts. Lands 

 sell and rent higher in the United Stales, in pro- 

 portion to the extent and skill with which artificial 

 grasses are cultivated. There is no doubt but, 

 that here, as abroad, profit is the only permanent 

 basis of prire and rent; and, as the highest price 

 and rent attends the culture of artificial grasses, 

 the greatest profits must also attend it. Both at 

 home and abroad, the land nursed by artificial 

 grasses, is known to be so much richer, and more 

 productive, both of irrain and meat, than lands 

 not so nursed, as to pay labor lar better, without 

 taking into the account a long list of other benefits 

 arisinir li-om this system ol' culture. The most 

 productive bread-stuff larms, are those whereon 

 grain is raised on grass leys. Of this fact, the 

 sliiihtest observation, experience, or reflection, 

 would convince the most incredulous. 



The general conclusion is, that grazing of 

 lands, when applied to natural grasses invaria- 

 bly enriches it, when combined with a skil- 

 ful management of artificial grasses, as in the 

 cases of Holland, England, and some parts 

 of the United States; suffices to excite those who 



