THE FARMERS' REGISTER, 



365 



ed by other advantages besides the invaluable 

 benefit of insuring a good grov>/th. The seed 

 is more easily sown and more equally distributed 

 — it eaves the labor of eovving plaster during the 

 first spring, and relieves the wheat from the dan- 

 ger of being more liable to rust by the application 

 of plaster sown broad-cast, a danger, however, 

 which has never been observed by the writer, 

 though it is deemed by some farmers to be incur- 

 red. Twelve monihs after the clover is thus sown, 

 it should be plastered during moist or showery 

 weather, with about one bushel to the acre. To- 

 wards the last of May, or early in June, ihe 

 bloom begins to assume a brownish hue, and it is 

 then fit for the scyihe, if designed for hay or (or 

 feeding green to cattle — but if sown for the pur- 

 pose of restoring fertility to an exhausted soil, or 

 renewing its energy after a debilitating crop, the 

 most judicious plan is to leave it unmolested until 

 after harvest, when it is beginning to fall upon 

 the land, and its stalks become hard. The graz- 

 ing of cattle may then be permitted; though it 

 is prudent to remove them in wet weaiher. Mr. 

 Carter, of Shirley, thinks this mode of grazing 

 beneficial.* 



4. Timothy (Phleum pratense) grows well in 

 good soils, in boih low and elevated situations. 

 Herds-grass (^/Jgrostis vulgaris) is better adapted 

 than any of the cultivated grasses to moist lands. 

 It may be overflowed all winter, and is, conse- 

 quently, a fitting grass for our ice ponds, which 

 are kept dry during other seasons. Orchard grass 

 is suited to land shaded by trees, and is sown by 

 some farmers for making hay. It is fine (or 

 milch cows. In the spring, it furnishes good 

 grazing before other grasses. Lucerne is a valua- 

 ble grass, and bears more frequent cuttings than 

 any other. It must be sown in drills 3 feet apart, 

 and cultivated. The most economical mode ol 

 raising it, is to cultivate beets or some other 

 cleasing crop between the rows of lucerne, and 

 thus cultivate both at the same lime. 



5. The next subject of inquiry, ihe least in- 

 jurious mode of grazing, has been in some mea- 

 sure anticipated in the foregoing remarks. The 

 system least injurious to the land must be that 

 which deprives it in the least degree of the 

 vegetable matter necessary (or its fertilization. 

 After the second year's growth of clover has (ully 

 matured, a very small portion of its fertilizing 

 qualities is abstracted by the grazing of cattle, 

 which eat the tender shoots, but trample to the 

 ground the principal growth ; and the hoof seems 

 beneficial in compacting the soil, which has be- 

 come loosened by the vigorous roots of the clover. 

 When corn is cultivated on clover land, it is ne- 

 cessary to graze it in order to prevent or mitigate 

 the depredation of the grub worm, which other- 

 wise abounds to the great deterioration of the 

 crop. Where a plantation is cultivated in these 

 fields, provision for stock should be secured in lots 



sowed it in the way here recommended. This and 

 other successful results, induce him to believe that 

 clover thus sown will succeed well after corn, it be- 

 ing sown as late in the summer as practicable. Wheat 

 might then precede corn, instead of being followed by 

 It, and both crops would be materially improved. 

 * Farmers' Register, vol i p. 134 " 



of clover, or of rye and clover, to be grazed suc- 

 cessively until such times as would not be injuri- 

 ous to the clover fields. Where there are four 

 fields, the slock are turned upon the third yoar'a 

 clover, which should furnish an abundant supply 

 until after harvest, when they may ft;ed as above 

 stated, on the growth of the second year. A 

 standing, or permanent pasture cannot be repro- 

 bated in terms too strong. It is alike ruinous to 

 land and stock. The few who possess the ad- 

 vantage of firm marshes, have a ready resource 

 when it would be injurious to turn stock upon 

 their grass fields. 



The advantages of meadows are very little ap- 

 preciated by eastern Virginians. It is most discre- 

 ditable, that we do not make hay suflicient to sup- 

 ply the wants of our own population. It is im- 

 ported annually from the north, and even our 

 farmers sometimes buy imported hay.* We can 

 employ a portion of our land in no tillage more 

 beneficial or profiiable. It is capital bearing a 

 very high annual interest. A good meadow will 

 p.'-oduce every year a crop more valuable than any 

 of the cereal crops ; and, moreover, these are lia- 

 ble to many vicissitudes in such land as is well 

 adapted to timothy and herds-grass. There are 

 very (ew farms which have not a few acres of this 

 description of (and. 



It being the general opinion (an opinion, how- 

 ever, which may well be controverted) that mea- 

 dows yield large crops of corn, they are frequently 

 planted with this grain, the cultivation of which is 

 cleansing, and thus well fitted to prepare the soil 

 for the reception of grass seeds. Beds for hay 

 should have the width of two corn rows — 10 or 11 

 feet — the single row being inconvenient in mow- 

 ing. To prepare a meadow, two rows of corn 

 may be cultivated on this wide bed. But where 

 the meadow has been, by no previous design, pre- 

 pared for sowing grass seeds, and the corn crop 

 has been cultivated in the usual way, the crop 

 should be cut off early in September, (the corn, it 

 will be sol^ may be used (or fattening hogs,) the 

 beds ploughed double with a good rise in the cen- 

 tre to prevent water fiom settling thereon, har- 

 rowed, and reduced carelijlly to a fine tilth. Any 

 degree of labor expended in executing this pro- 

 cess thoroughly will be amply compensated. The 

 seeds should be sown as soon as practicable. 



The fitness of the soil lor the sort of grass best 

 adapted to it may he tested by a mixture of clover, 

 timothy and herds-grassj— one third of each. 



* There are a few honorable exceptions. The small 

 counties of Elizabeth City and Essex are reported, in 

 the late census, to have produced respectively, 1235 

 and 1466 tons of hay, Isle of Wight 20,000, (?) Nan- 

 semond 1989, Norfolk county 2500, Princess Anne 

 76,250, (?) Surry 1209, Statlbrd 2083. 



t Dr. Archer condemns this mixture, because " the 

 clover was ready for the scythe in May, the other two 

 were not ripe for three or four weeks afterwards." He 

 consequently lost the best part of his clover crop. 

 His loss would have been diminished greatly, if not 

 wholly avoided, by cutting his grass about a week 

 later. The heaviest part of the first, and perhaps 

 second crops, would consist in clover, and tfien the 

 others will supersede it, and that best adapted to the 

 soil will acquire the superiority. If any deem it pre- 

 sumptuous to differ from so experienced a farmer, 

 let him follow the doctor's advice, and mix either 

 timothy and herd's grass, or meadow oat and clover, 

 which mature at the ^ame time. 



