FARMERS' REGISTER 



415 



3'ly question was, " which was the best grass 

 to grow with red clover 7" He answered at once, 

 " orchard graf?3," by reason of their blossoming 

 at. the same lime, and the orchard grass giving 

 early and late pastnre, which was a great object 

 with him, as he devoted his attention to the sup- 

 ply ol'butier lor the Philadelphia market. Joseph 

 Cooper, of New Jersey, to whom 1 also applied 

 lor an opinion on the same point, was ecjually 

 prompt in linor olthe union of the two grasses in 

 question. Thus backed, I had no hesitation m 

 deviating from the usual routine adopted in Dela- 

 ware, and still continued very generally throughout 

 Pennsylvania ; and upon the first field of wheat 

 which I laid down, viz : in 1805, I had sown the 

 following spriniX; 12 measured pints ol'clover seed 

 with one bushel and a hall' of orchard grass seed 

 previously well mixed. — Alter the grain was re- 

 moved, I saw, with very great delight, both gra-^s- 

 es thickly covering the ground, and nearly as high 

 Qs the stubble ; and late in the autumn liad the 

 satisfaction to see my cows enjoying a luxurious, 

 succulent repast, after the fields which were sown 

 with timothy and clover in the vicinity had ceased 

 to supply it. But this gratification was small 

 when compared with that I experienced the fol- 

 lowing spring, by beholding tlie lowering orchard 

 grass in full blossom at the same time with its 

 companion, and the ground thickly set with both. 

 Reserving a certain space lor maturing the seed of 

 the orchard grass, I had the crop cut when a few 

 only ol the clover blossoms were l)eginning to turn, 

 being then sure of perfect maturity of the rest, 

 and found that they, equally with the leaves, re- 

 tained their connexion with the stalk much better 

 than when the grass was cut afier ihe clover bios • 

 soms had assumed a dark hue. Another advan- 

 tage attending this early culling is, that the stalks 

 preserve their pliancy and areeaien freely by cat- 

 tle ; whereas they are wasted when they become 

 hard fiom the mowing having been done at a late 

 period. 



My experience of six years of the union of the 

 two grasses enables me to say that the advantages 

 of sowing orchard grass in preference to timothy, 

 are as Ibllows : 



1. Two crops in place of one. 



2. Good i)astare late in the autumn instead of 

 none. 



3. The curing of both grasses in full perfi3ction, 

 while, when timothy is sown, the clover blossoms 

 and leaves are dead, black, and chiefly fall off in 

 the curing of the hay, owing to the ripening of the 

 timothy from 12 to 15 days alter the clover. Farm- 

 ers will never cut their grass until the timothy is 

 fit fijr the scythe. 



4. Early pasture, even befijre the pestiferous, 

 hateful wild gailic makes its appearance, or at 

 least as early as the latter, and by it^s rapid growth, 

 smothers or lessens the crop of this enemy to the 

 products of' the dairy. The same remarks apply 

 to the auiumnal growth of garlic. 



Orchard grass is upon a par with timothy, in 

 point of nutritive quality and of animal partiality, 

 and will command nearly as great a price as timo- 

 thy. Two crops, and ilie early and late pasture 

 of the orchard grass make up lor the small difier- 

 ence in the price of hay from the two grasses. 



THE RESULTS OF MARLING IN THE COUNTRY 

 ABOUT WILLIAMSBURG. 



II' any person yet doubts tlie value of marl as a 

 means of profitable and durable improvement of 

 land, and therefore heshates or delays to use this 

 manure, let him visit the country surroundin" 

 Williamsburg, and see the marled isnd the un- 

 marled lands, and learn the circumstances from the 

 proprietors. And if sucli an inquirer should be 

 one of the young men formerly educated there, 

 and who has not been there for twenty or more 

 years, he will need no verbal information to as- 

 sure him of the remarkable improvement made, 

 nor any arithmetical statements to convince him 

 ofgreai increase of fertility and of wealth. We do 

 not know whether any doubters or deniers of the 

 value of marling yet remain in lower Virginia; 

 but there are many such in the more southern 

 states; and it would be not only worth the ex- 

 pense of the journey, but perhaps a fortune to 

 boot, for any such persons, having the means of 

 marling, to come here and learn what profits 

 others have made by this most valuable of all the 

 means for fertilization. 



Twenty years ago, the general condition of ag- 

 riculture of the counties of York and James 

 City, was among the lowest in Virginia. The 

 lands, excepting some of the rich river margins, 

 (which Nature had marled, and which man had 

 been laboring in vain to exhaust,) were generally 

 poor, and the profits of cultivation very low. The 

 prices of lands, both the rich and the poor, were 

 astonishingly low, even after making every allow- 

 ance lor their wretched cultivation and products. 

 Some of the poor lands, but with plenty of marl, 

 and easily and cheaply improveable, and within a 

 few miles of ship navigation, sold for about ^1 

 the acre; and ^3 was deemed a very good price. 



Other things were in accordance with the con- 

 dition of agriculture. There was but one thing 

 that formed an exception. The fast survivors ol' 

 the old aristocracy of the ancient capital of A'lr- 

 ginia yet lingered, and their fortunes had not been 

 entirely spent in wasteful hospitality, nor disappear- 

 ed by division and subdivision. And to this cause 

 it was owing thai the society of the generally de- 

 cayed and partly ruinous village of Williamsburg 

 was more refined, and social intercourse more de- 

 lightful, than in cilies exhibiting the very different 

 indications of general prosperity and great indivi- 

 dual wealth. But with this exception, which was 

 yearly becoming more laint, and has since almost 

 disappeared, every thing in Williamsburg then was 

 the accompaniment of decay, or an indication of 

 approaching ruin. 



The College of William and xMary, however, up 

 ito 13I2. had bten what v.as ilicn deemed jrcfciie- 



