234 



him. A Pennsylvania farmer pronounces it of all other grasses 

 the earliest, latest, and best for green fodder or hay. It blos- 

 soms about the middle of June and is preferred to all others by 

 horned cattle. It must be cut seasonably or it becomes hard 

 like straw. A Middlesex farmer, who has cultivated it several 

 years and whose authority is of the highest character, confirms 

 the above statements of its excellence both for grazing and hay. 

 He says, from its early flowering it is adapted to be sown with 

 red clover, and is fit to be cut about the first of June. His own 

 account is as follows : 



" In the spring he sowed with barley a field of four acres, and 

 put on 2i bushels of oat-grass seed, 5 lbs. of red clover, and 2 

 lbs. of white clover seed, to the acre. The soil was thin and 

 had been exhausted by long cropping. On the 3d of June in 

 the following year it was cut, and gave two tons to the acre of 

 the finest and best hay, either for cattle or horses, he ever had 

 in his barn." 



He thinks three bushels of seed should be sown to the acre. 

 It is well adapted for grazing on poor and exhausted lands, as 

 well as on those of a richer quality. It is a fortnight earlier 

 than the common grasses, and throughout the dryest weather 

 exhibits a green appearance. From three fourths of an acre, in 

 good condition, be obtained over twenty bushels of well- 

 cleaned seed. 



The late John Lowell, a man behind no other in his intelli- 

 gent, successful and disinterested efforts to advance the cause 

 of an improved agriculture in Massachusetts and New England 

 generally, says that " under his cultivation, it has proved a most 

 valuable grass and fully sustained its high character. It is a 

 very early and tall grass, yielding a good burden. It will start 

 rapidly after cutting. It is a perennial and enduring grass, and 

 on his first experiment it lasted seven years without the neces- 

 sity of renewal." 



A farmer in Waltham objects to sowing the tall meadow oats 

 and the herdsgrass together, as they do not ripen at the same 

 time. The tall meadow oats, when 1 visited him, would be 



