216 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



viously to the wheat harvest, in makint;^ hay ; in 

 autumn in ditching, draining, fencing and stub- 

 bing ; and at al! times in a variety of less impor- 

 tant,- but improving occupations. Thus the losses 

 accruing both trom the .surplus of labor at one 

 season, and Irom its deficiency at another, are 

 avoided. Some labor is saved by the effect of the 

 roots and tops of perennial grasses, to keep the 

 ground loose and liiable ; and much aficr it is 

 thrown inio the highridcpes of five and a half leel 

 width, because when the ridges are reversed, very 

 deep ploughing is more easily practicable, by 

 turning the eanh back into the furrows without 

 working at all on the space those furrows occupy. 

 By the li-iabiliiy of the ground, resulting from a 

 great quantity of vegetable fibres, we are also se- 

 cured aiiainslits baking, and save the labor neces- 

 sary in thatevent. (or crumbling or reducing it again 

 into a proper state for vegetation. Naked ground 

 possesses neither of these advantages. It is un- 

 able to bear the deep ploughing necessary for 

 forminij proper ridges, and it is liable both to wash 

 and break from heavy rains, so as to require much 

 severe labor again to level and pulverize it highly 

 prejudicial to the crop. 



5. But the greatest benefit fi'om the cultiva- 

 tion of artificial grasses, arises from their exclusive 

 capacity to make highland meadows. Some 

 grasses are so well adapted for high, dry and hilly 

 land, if the soil is miprovable, that it may very 

 often be made more valuable and more productive 

 than low land meadows. The expence of clear- 

 ing and draming the lat*er, will generally exceed 

 that of manuring the former ; yet drainintr is con- 

 sidered every where as highly profitable and 

 useful. The comparative expence between that 

 and making high land grass, is not materially uf- 

 fected by the probable comparative profit. A 

 good spring crop of high land grass is more com- 

 mon in our climate, than of low land. It is not 

 exposed to inundation. A pound of high land 

 grass, green or dry, generally contains as much 

 nutriment as two of low land. It is more easily 

 made into good hay. And high land grasses 

 possess the great exclusive value of enrichmg the 

 high and dry lands on which they are sown. 

 These conditions disclose items of profit, resulting 

 from the culture of artificial grasses, which, when 

 united, warrant the conclusion, that it is capable 

 of rendering a great proportion of our high, dry, 

 and hilly lands as valuable as reclaimed meadow 

 land. 



It is next to be considered what grasses are best 

 adapted to the soil and climate of Virginia, and 

 consequently most worthy of selection. The 

 merit of red clover as an improving high land 

 grass, is too well established to require proof. Its 

 defects are, that it is speedily destroyed by grazing; 

 bearing, however, that of hogs the longest — that 

 in ourwarm and dry summers, it soon perishes 

 without being grazed, especially on sandy soils — 

 that it is difficult to be made into hay — and that its 

 hay can only be preserved by particular exer- 

 tions. It stands, however, hitherto unriv;dled in its 

 capacity to enrich the ground, if left uncut to be 

 turned in by the plough. Timothy, in the lower 

 parts of the state, especially if grazed, is also 

 liable to an early death; to be eaten out by broom- 

 straw ; to have its leaves burnt and dried by the 

 sun before it is fit to cut; and to ripen so late as to 

 incommode the wheat harvest, without possessing 



the quality of vvaiiing long for the scythe. I/i 

 the section of Virginia below the mountains, '' 

 must also be assigned to the class of low lan<i 

 srasses. The red lop, or herd's grass, as it is in- 

 discriminately called, ia superior to timothy in 

 many ie.-?pects. It lasts longer ; it bears grazing 

 belter; its leaves are not so liable lo be sun burnt; 

 it resists invaders naich more jiowerfullv — sown, 

 mixed with timothy, it eais out thelaiter in two or 

 three years. And although, it ripens about the 

 same time, it waits longer lor the scythe, without 

 sustaininir any considerable injury. This grass, 

 like tiuMjihy, is better adapted to reclaimed low 

 lands thLui to iiigh ; though it succeeds on the lat- 

 ter better than timothy. The best grass which I 

 have tried, in many respects, is one commonly 

 called " the high land meadow oat." I have had 

 no means of ascertaining whether it is a species of 

 rye grass, or of the avena pratenris, or neither, 

 nor whence it derived rhe appellation " Peru- 

 vian," by which I have heard it disiiniruished. 

 With its qualities I am better acquainted, having 

 carefully observed them lor many years. It ripens 

 as early as the red clover, and is easily made into 

 fine hay, if cut in proper time. Its earliness is of 

 vast importance in our climate. Thence it hap- 

 pens, that it produces heavy spring crops, like red 

 clover, as it commonly perfects its growth before 

 a drouijht occurs. It is the hardiest grass I ever 

 savv, and bears drought and frost, heat, and cold, 

 much better than any I have tried. It keeps pos- 

 session of the land in spile of severe grazing. It 

 flourishes best on soils suitable for red clover, but 

 it will live on and improve lands whereon red clo- 

 ver will perish. It furnishes better grazing early 

 in tlie spring; late in the fiill, in droughts and in 

 winter, than any grass known tome. Ripening 

 with the red clover, it is peculiarly fitted for being 

 sown with it. because it greatly fiiciiitates its con- 

 version in hay, and retains possession of the 

 ground for years after clover has disappeared. 

 Alone, cut before the seeds ripens, its hay is as 

 nutritive and pleasant to stocks of^ all kinds as 

 any I ever used ; and it will yield both seed and 

 tolerably good hay at one cutting, as it ripens 

 soonest at top. JVlixed with favorite grasses of 

 grazing animals, it is partially rejected, but eaten 

 as they fail. Alone, it is greedily fed upon. After 

 being cut or grazed, if left to grow, it rises anew, 

 almost with the rapidity of lucerne, with a vigor 

 but little diminished. Fifteen years' experience 

 has not enabled me to decide as to its capacity for 

 improving the soil, because the small quantity of 

 seed first obtained, by confining experiments to 

 small patches, long concealed its qualities; and 

 the large lots first sown have remained too flour- 

 ishing to require manure, and too valuable to bei 

 ploughed up. It produces (after it has come to i 

 perfection, in doing which it is one year slower 

 than red clover.) ungraized and uncut, a warmer 

 and more lasting cover than the clover, which has 

 recently induced me to mix and sow it with wheat 

 on a large scale, tor the end of improving the soil; 

 in which the anticipation I have yet discerned no 

 cause (or apprehension. For this purpose it pos- 

 sesses one recommendation beyond clover. It 

 does not grow and spread so rapidly in the (all or 

 spring as to injure the crop of wheat with which 

 It is sown, as is sometimes the case with clover. 

 Upon the whole, whatever doubt remains as to its 

 fertilizing power, the conclusions that it eminently 



