170 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ON THE CULTURE OF CLOVER, &c. 



Ilazzi;) ami, AvUere nothing more profitable or or- 

 namental will grow, forest trees. An extraordina- 

 ry degree ot" attention is paid to the mile-stones 

 and to the guide-posts, neither of which are want- 

 ing on any road. The guide-posts are generally 

 painted black, with the letters in white or red, the 

 black contrasting better with the snow, which, in 

 some jiarts of the country, covers the ground tor 

 six months in every year. Some of the mile-stones 

 have a bench of stone, forming a [jlinth or base 

 around them, as a seat; others, where stone is not 

 so plentiful, have a semi-circular area of turf 

 around them, bounded by a bench of the same 

 material, as a seat, and planted behind with pop- 

 lars or other trees. The neatness with which 

 these turf benches, and the ditches or other fences, 

 and also the grass margins by the sides of the 

 roads, are kept, tar surpasses any thing of the kind 

 which we have ever seen in Britam. With us, if 

 any thing of this kind is met with in the public 

 roads, it is chiefly the result of accident, either in 

 the situation or circumstances of the road; or arises 

 ii-om the appointment of a road surveyor who hap- 

 pens to have at once some taste, and more than 

 ordinary facilities for displaying it. In Bavaria the 

 whole is the result of design and system, the entire 

 management of the roads being in the hands of 

 the government. The same' ought certainly to be 

 the case in this country; for, otherwise, it is utterly 

 impossible to adopt one general S3'stem of improve- 

 ment. — Weekly Dispatch. 



PRICES OF IMPROVEn SHORT-IIORJV CATTLE 

 IN ENGLAND. 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 



At the Rev. H. Berry's fourth sale of improved 

 short-horns, on the 11th February, 1834, the fol- 

 lowing prices were obtained: 



Lot 1. 2 vears old, . . £24 3 



2. Ditto, . . . 86 15 



3. Ditto. Bought in. £45 bid, 



4. 3 years. Ditto, Ditto, 



5. 3 years, . , , 29 18 



6. Calf; sold with the above, 



7. 3 years, . . . 30 9 



8. 3 years, . . . 38 17 



9. 8 years, . . . 32 12 



10. 9 years, . . . 26 5 



11. Heifer calf, . . 15 15 



12. 10 years, . . . 36 15 



13. 10 years, . . , 48 6 



14. 2 years old bull, , 39 18 



15. 1 year old ditto, . , 45 3 



16. Bull calf, . , , 15 15 



17. Ditto, , , , , 31 10 



18. Ditto, 9 weeks old, , 32 110 



NEW PLANTS, 



Baron Ilagal, the Austrian botanist, who lately 

 visited the Neilgherr^- Hills, in India, declares that 

 the unknown varieties of trees and shrubs, existing 

 there alone, exceed 10,000. The wild rose inns up 

 to the top of the highest trees, and grows to the 

 thickness of four or five inches. — A delicious speci- 

 men of orange but not exceeding a filbert in size, 

 is also found there. In the orange valley below 

 Kotagherry, about 4500 fiiet above the level of the 

 sea, numerous fruit trees are found, amongst which 

 are the wild fig and lemon tree, the latter bearing 

 iruit little inferior in size and flavor to that of Spain, 



ox THE CULTURE OF CLOVER. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 Few tilings have contributed more lara'ely to 

 the modern improvement ol husbandry, than the 

 introduction of clover in connexion with the rota- 

 tion of crops. This plant serves to ameliorate and 

 fertilize the soil, and at the same time it afiords an 

 abundance of wholesome food for every descrip- 

 tion of ftirin stock. Whether cut for winter stores, 

 for soiling in the yard, or ted off b}' stock, but few 

 crops surjjass it in the quantity of cattle food which 

 it affords. Although cultivated in Holland and 

 Flanders from an early period, with gi'eat advan- 

 tage, it was not introduced into Great Britain till 

 the 16th century. At present, clovers enter large- 

 ly into the succession of crops there, on all soils, 

 and in evey ])roductive course of management. 

 They are principally instrumental in giving to 

 Flanders its high celebrity as an agricultural coun- 

 try, greatly in advance, in improvement, of the 

 states around it. The clover system has con- 

 verted some of the poorest districts in England, 

 into the most productive and profitable. In the 

 United States it is comparatively of recent intro- 

 duction; and even at this day its benefits are but 

 partially appreciated or appUed as they ought to be. 

 In connexion with g}'psum, clover first became a 

 subject of notice and culture in the counties about 

 Philadelphia, and in the county of Dutchess, 

 some forty years ago; and we are much indebted 

 to the example and writings of Chancellor Living- 

 ston, Judge Peters, and other gentlemen of learn- 

 ing, wealth and enterprise, for the improvement 

 and wealth which it has conferred on our land. 

 Many of our farmers have yet much to learn, be- 

 fore the}' can realize the full benefits which it is 

 ca])able of aflbrding in the profits of the farm.. 

 Although botanists enumerate nearly fifty species 

 of the clover family, our present remarks are intend- 

 ed to apply merely to the common red kind (trifo- 

 Hum pratense.) 



There are three faults in the management of 

 clover Avhich we design briefly to notice in refer- 

 ence to alternate husbandry. Two of these are: 



1. Too little seed is usually soton. The ob- 

 ject of the clover croj) is to procure a cheap food 

 for animals and plants. Few if any crops surpass 

 it in the quantity which it afl!ords of these — and 

 tew exhaust the fertility of the soil less. One 

 farmer sows four to six pounds of seed to the acre, 

 and gets in return a thin but coarse crop of hay 

 or pasture. Another sows ten to fourteen pounds, 

 obtains double the burthen of the first, and at a 

 trifling extra expense of less than a dollar to the 

 acre for seed, while his land is doubly benefited 

 by the green crop to be ploughed in. From ten 

 to fourteen pounds of seed should be sown to the 

 acre, whether the object is to benefit the stock or 

 the land. The product will be somewhat in the 

 ratio of the seed sown; and the advantages of 

 heavy stocking both in the hay and to the soil, will 

 far outbalance the cost of the extra seed, 



2. Clover lays are permitted to remain too long 

 before they are brought under the plough. The 

 common clover is a biennial, or at most a trien- 

 nial plant; and if not ploughed under before the 

 third year, its advantages to the soil, as a green 

 crop are mostly, or wholly lost; while after the 

 second year it adds very little to the crop of hay. 

 But if turned under the first or second year, it fur- 

 nishes to the soil a great quantity of vegetable mat-- 



