694 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



We haJ beTore known thai the spinal marrow 

 is the peat of all nervous action — that all ihe 

 nerves ol'tlie syeleni disiribnle ihennselves on, and 

 receive their vitality (rom it, and that whenever or 

 from whatever cause, \he spine is seriously in- 

 jured, all nervous action below the point oC injury 

 "is paralyzed. Hence, when we reflected upon 

 what was the probable cause of the loss of 

 strength in the hinder extremities of the hog, we 

 suspected that an investigation would show it to 

 be some direct or indirect injury to the spine. 

 And the result has verified the suspicion. 



We make known these facts, to save our farm- 

 ing (riends all unnecessary trouble and expense in 

 keeping and feeding hogs thus atfecled. It is bet- 

 ter to terminate their existence at once ; lor all 

 cure is out of the question. 



SOWING GRASS SEED IX WOODLAND. 



From tlic Soutliern Cultivator. 



Near Colhyvllle,Ky., Oct. 14, 1840. 

 The woods should be prepared by burning the 

 leaves, cuttins up the logs and brush, and burning 

 them, and thinning the woods so as to allow the 

 sun's rays to shine upon every part of the ground 

 some lime in the day. It is usual to kill, or cut 

 out all the sugar tree, elm, box-elder, iron wood, 

 and every thing else that will not make rails or 

 saw logs. When the ground is ready, it is a 

 matter of much importance to sow upon it such 

 seed as is suitable to the soil. If there is lime in 

 the soil and not much sand, blue-grass* will be 

 suitable for it. If there should be much sand in 

 the soil, then some gra?s with stronger roots than 

 blue-grass would be necessary to prevent its being 

 pulled up. Orchard glass and the clovers would 

 be better in such cases. Blue-grass generally 

 succeeds well upon land that has some or all of the 

 Ibllowing trees — ash, sugar tree, white and black 

 walnut, locust, \vild cherry, box elder, buckeye, 

 elm, mulberry and hackberry. Where oak and 

 hickory predominate, orchard grass generally suc- 

 ceeds well. 



Where there \slhne-stonc, there is a strong 

 presumption there is lime in the soil, though it is 

 not invariably the case. To ascertain certainly 

 whether there be lime, take one part of muriatic 

 acid, and two of water, and pour the mixture up- 

 on a portion of the soil in a glass tumbler, and the 

 quantity of bubbles will be in proportion to the 

 lime. If the earth has been weighed, the fluid 

 poured oR', and potash be added, the lime will fall 

 to the bottom, and dried and weighed, the propor- 

 tion can be ascertained. After it has been deter- 

 mined what seed to sow, it is important to have 

 them of a jiood quality. Blue-grass seed is often 

 in'iured by heating after they are gathered. They 

 are bouirht by our merchants in large quantities, 

 and are put in bulk, and not bein<r qifitc dry they 

 sometimes heat and destroy their vitality. When 

 this is the case, it can be known by the smell, 

 which shows that a rotting process has commenced. 

 Good seed should smell like well cured hay. 

 Clover seed will come up at almost any age, yet 

 clover seed more than a year old is not worth half 

 as much as fresh seed ; for although it will come 



* Green-sward— jjoa uiridis. — Ed. F. li. 



up, it will not all come together, but at difTercnt 

 periods, so as to make the crop very uneven. 

 Fresh clover seed may be known by their bright- 

 ness, each seed appearing as it it had been glazed. 



Blue-grass and timothy may be sown at any 

 time from September to April. A snow is usually 

 chosen to sow, because the seeds may then be 

 distributed more evenly without the trouble of 

 marking oir the ground. Audi have generally 

 sown blue-grass first, and then crossed the ground 

 in a different direction with timothy. The blue- 

 grass seed will be distributed more evenly by be- 

 ing well rubbed so as to separate the seed, which 

 are stripped in bunches. 



After the seeds are sown, all the cattle on the 

 farm should be put into the woods where you have 

 sown them, and led there with hay or stouk-fiadder 

 or whatever they are fed with, and kept there umil 

 the seeds begin to sprout, when every thingsfiould 

 be taken off, and nothing allowed to go upon it 

 again until the grass has seeded, when it may 

 be heavily stocked. The object of putting the 

 cattle upon the ground after sowing the seed is 

 that they may tread it into the ground. If sowed 

 late, the grass will not seed the first year, and the 

 temptation will be very great to turn stock upon 

 it, and some of our best farmers recommend it. 

 INIy experience is against turning on any stock 

 until it has seeded. 



My land suiting both 'imothy and blue-grass, I 

 have generally sown both upon it, in the propor- 

 tion of a bushel of each, in the chaff, to the acie. 

 In a few years the blue-grass takes entire posses- 

 sion of the ground, expelling all the timothy. The 

 advantage of sowing timothy with the blue-gra-s 

 is, that the timothy is a quick growth and lakes 

 possession of the ground and affords considerable 

 pasture before the blue-grass comes on, keeping 

 out weeds, and yieldmg to the blue-grass as it gets 

 stronger. The blue-grass is very weak the first 

 year, but becomes a strong hardy grass afterwards. 

 Blue-grass is not killed in the winter, and affords 

 much (bod at a time of the year when green food 

 is particularly valuable. As blue-grass is tender 

 the first year so it is also early in the spring ; and 

 if grazed close in April and May, it will afford 

 very little grazing the balance of the season : but 

 i( permitted to get a good start in the spring, it 

 will afford an abundant supply during the whole 

 season. A few years ago, I sold some beef" cattle 

 in October, off a piece of woodland pasture of 

 seventy-six acres. The fall was favorable to the 

 growth of grass — and in December I put upon it 

 twenty horses and my flock of sheep, (upwards of 

 one hundred.) and they were well wintered upon 

 the grass with only two loads of hay during the 

 winter. There were only two snows that winter 

 that lay several days on the ground, and at each 

 time a load of hay, supposed to be about half a 

 ton, was hauled out to them. My sheep are 

 wintered every winter in this way, and the 

 wethers are sold in the spring as soon as sheared 

 lor the highest price that nmtton commands. 



Formerly, most of the trees a foot in diameter, 

 and under, were cut down and cut up and burned ; 

 now, the trees that aie not thought valuable for 

 limber are all killed by chopping around them, 

 and they are allowed lO fall, or are cut down at 

 some leisure time and burned. Trees may be 

 killed at any time of the year, but the best time ia 

 1 iu May, June, July and August. 



Samuel D. Martin. 



