682 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



The first quality of soil is that on which the 

 elover is most [)roductive; but on all of them ihi? 

 crop IS uncertain. An alternation of wet and 

 frosty weather during the winter freqiienily des- 

 troys a considerable portion of the |;lants; and a 

 dry and cold spring impairs their strenoth to such 

 a degree that no lavurable vvealher will afterwards 

 restore their vigor. 



Bye-grass. — Under these circumstances, the 

 rye-grass often constitutes the main bulk of the 

 crop when the field is mown. It is much more 

 hardy than the clover, and contributes to shelter 

 and protect its companion. With all ihese disad- 

 vantages, however, no substitute has been found 

 fo supply the place of clover, and it continues to 

 hold its station steadily in tlie rotation of crops. 

 A portion of it is generally fed oH' by the lambs 

 and ewes, and the remainder is cut for hay as 

 Boon as the rye-grass blooms. Farmers in this 

 district are sometimes temf)ted to leave it standing, 

 in hopes of rain and increasing growth, to a pe- 

 riod rather later; but the augmentation of bulk 

 during so short a period cannot compensate fur 

 the loss sustained in the succulence and tender- 

 ness of the stalk. In a v'ery short time after the 

 appearance of the bloom, the stem of the rye- 

 grass becomes fibrous, hard, and dry, loses" in 

 weight; and is liir less acceptable to "cattle, and 

 less nutritious. The same observation applies to 

 the clover; but in clover, the process towards ma- 

 turity is not so rapid; its succulence is not so soon 

 exhausted, and more delay can be allowed. On 

 this farm, however, the moment the rye-grass 

 forms its bloom, cutting is commenced, uidess the 

 weather should be wholly unfavorable; and expe- 

 rience has confirmed this system, upon an aver- 

 age of years, to be the most advantageous. This 

 crop forms a considerable portion ofvvinier store 

 for the feed oi" sheep, and when it happens to 

 prove very deficient, exposes the larmcr on these 

 soils to difficulties, and sometimes compels him to 

 send a portion of his slock during several n.cnths, 

 from Noven)ber to April, to districts where richer 

 Boile produce more abundant crops. Such lands 

 are found in Wiltshire, within the distance of 

 twenty or twenty-five ni'iles, and sheep are usual- 

 ly kept well upon them, at an expense varyinir 

 from six shillings to eight fehillings per head, for 

 the season. 



Sainfoin. — All the soils upon this f;irm are 

 well-suited to sainfoin, but it certainly grows with 

 more luxuriance on the compact, gravelly clay, of 

 the depth of ten or twelve inches, lying in contact 

 with the substratum ol' chalk. The sainfoin will 

 not flouiish on deep clays which hold much mois- 

 ture, and which are not drained by some sub-soil 

 of a less retentive nature; but on the shallow 

 flays, resting on chalk, or limestone, it is very 

 productive. On such soil it grows with a sleiii 

 and leaf more rank and coarse^ than on the second 

 and third qualities of land; but the hay made from 

 it is better calculated lor horses than lor sheep. 



The sainfoin is the most valuable artificial grass 

 this district possesses. The dryest seasons rarely 

 essentially injure the crop; the most wet appear 

 only to increase its luxuriance of ixrowth, and thus. 

 under all circumstances, it may be depended on, 

 if it can be converted into hay, as a certain re- 

 source for a farm. No food is more fTrateful to i 

 eherp; and the horses, if liberally fed with it, are | 

 kept in good working condition without corn. It ! 



remains longer in the stack uninjured, than clover 

 and rye-grass hay, which is generally lees con- 

 densed; it is penetrated by wind and heat with 

 less facility, and a less portion of its nutritious 

 qualities is carried off. Siiinlbin hay, when stack- 

 ed in good condition, is equally good in the third 

 year. 



The sainf(iin should be cut as soon as the main 

 bulk of the flowers are ready to o[)en; when cut 

 in this state, and made into hay, it weighs more, 

 lies much closer in the stack, and is far more nu- 

 tritious than when permitted to remain till some of 

 the flowers have expanded, and begin to fade. 

 The loss in apparent quantity is amply compen- 

 sated by the belter quality of the hay. 



The plant of sainfoin does not till after the 

 second year arrive at its full vigor and strength, 

 and therefore it is usually, in this district, sown in- 

 termixed with the hop-clover, to make up the 

 crop; but it is doubled whether this fraciice ig 

 beneficial. The saiiifbin plant is eviilently weak- 

 ened and stunted by the overpowering growth of 

 the clover, which arrives at maturity in its second 

 year; and it is quesiional le wliether the sainfoin 

 ever recovers the injury it thus su!^tains. As the 

 sainfoin is intended to remain for five, or licrhaps 

 six years, and is to be considered as the main ob- 

 ject of attention; an injury which sfneads its ef- 

 fects over three or four years, by a diminution in 

 the crops during that period, cannot be compensa- 

 ted by the supposed addition of a third, or a fourth, 

 to the crop of the second year. In all cases on 

 this farm where the experiment has been tried of 

 sowing the sainfoin alone with the barley, the 

 plants have invariably been more healthy, stron- 

 ger, and more numerous, than when mixed with 

 the hop-clover. 



The sainfoin plant is generally permitted to re- 

 main five or six years from the time of its sowing; 

 but this period is olien too long. The propriety 

 of leaving it lor more or lees time must depend on 

 the quality of the soil — on its being in high or 

 poor condition, clean or foul; on the compact, 

 gravelly clay, it would last the longest, as being 

 ihe best soil; but other grasses, the natural pro- 

 duce of such soils, spring up, and in the fourih year 

 begin to form a close tissue or mat about the top 

 of the sainfoin root, which evidently obstructs its 

 fiee growth, and smothers and destroys a large 

 portion of the weaker plants. On the land of the 

 second and third qualities, the grasses natural to 

 the soil rise less abundantly, and the sainfoin 

 suffers less from their contiguity; but the sainfoin 

 plant itself on these second soils is sooner exhaust- 

 ed, and becomes less productive. 



It is doubtful whether a sainfoin lay should not, 

 at all events, be broken up at the end of the fifth 

 year; and in most cases, at the end of the fourih; 

 and this system has been generally adopted on 

 this farm. 



In this district, the main difficulty attending 

 sainfoin arises fiom the necessity of sowing it on 

 a soil on which it has not been planted for at least 

 eight or nine years. All plants used in agricul- 

 ture evidently benefit by permitting considerable 

 periods of lime to intervene between their course 

 of sowing, but in many sorts, as in wheat, and 

 barley, or oats, manure will restore, in a great de- 

 gree, those ingredients in the soil, which former 

 crope of the same grain may have exhausted; but 

 no species of manure has yet been found in thi« 



