366 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Two gallons to the acre will probably produce a 

 good growth, but the sower had better sow dou- 

 ble this quantity rather ihan fail below it. Thick 

 Bowing of meadows, in which weeds are rom- 

 tponly^so prolific, is the best economy; and, be- 

 Bides'siopping ihe growth of weeds, would insure 

 a larger crop lor the first cutting in the ensuing 

 summer. Meadows are sometimes sown in the 

 spring, but ihis season is not so favorable as the 

 autumn, lor a dry summer will be unfavorable to 

 the young grass, the land is then more Id^ely to 

 produce weeds, farmers are commonly more busy, 

 and the crop will not be fit for the scythe in less 

 than 16 months. The meadow must be drained 

 completely ; no water should be permiited to re- 

 main on any part of it, and from time to time all 

 bushes and noxious weeds should be extirpated. 

 The bu^lrush is the worst pes*. It is the offspring 

 of superabundant moisture. It must be cut up by 

 the roots, or it wilt soon acquire complete posses- 

 sion, the herds-grass, and all other grasses being 

 unable to resist its vigorous encroachments. Be- 

 sides extirpating the weeds, the meadow is best 

 preserved by an occasional sprinkling, before the 

 spring growth commences, of well-rotted stable 

 manure. The Farmers' Register for May, page 

 200, tells us of a farmer in Massachusetts, who 

 has'four acres o\'motoing ground, which produces 

 .annually fully sixteen tons of hay. He uses plas- 

 ter of Paris freely. We are not informed whether 

 it is meadow or high land. Some recommend the 

 use of plaster in what we usually term meadows, 

 but the writer has no experience in this mode of 

 application. Scarification of old meadows is re- 

 commended ; but it must be a difficult process. 

 I once made an unsuccessful attempt with a heavy 

 iron-tooth harrow, which made scarcely an im- 

 pression, the closely matted grass roots resisting 

 an entrance. The process was attempted in order 

 to level the single beds, on which the seeds had 

 been sown erroneously, from want of experience 

 and good counsel. 



Meadows of good qualitj', well drained, well 

 preserved, and manured occasionally, will produce 

 annually from one and a half to two tons of hay 

 per acre. One ton and a half are worth not lees 

 than ^22 50, sometimes S30, equal to the value of 

 Irom seven to ten barrels of corn every year— a 

 product which lew, if any, meadows will average 

 lor a series of years. 



Lastly, the second growth of the meadow, 

 termed the aliermath, furnishes excellent grazing 

 lor beeves in the lall of the year. When winter, 

 dreary winter, follows in its turn, the cow, the 

 ox, the horse, will render a daily tribute of thanks 

 and service to a provident master, lor the liberal 

 provision yielded by his meadow; and the master, 

 when the well-falted, finely-marbled round adorns 

 his board, will renew his acknowledgments lor 

 the bounties of a gracious Gon, who provides so 

 plentifully lor the wants of man. 



E. T. T. 



King George, July, 1842. 



Hay-makers concur in recommending meadows 

 to be mowed before the seeds are fully ripe. This 

 period, in our latitude and elevation of country, is 

 from the middle to the latter part of July. The 

 modes of curing the hay are various. It is the 

 most simple, economical, and an equally efficacious 

 plan, to expose the grass to the sun so long as 

 merely to dry it— to rake it into wind-rows in the 

 latter part of the day on which it is cut— the fol- 

 lowing day, to put it into small cocks for curing, 

 in two or three days to make oiher cocks by re- 

 ducing two into one, forming it on intermediate 

 ground, so as to remove and turn over each one. 

 And as early afterwards as is convenient, to haul 

 it 10 be stacked or ricked. In good weather, the 

 hay is, by this method, cured wi;h good fresh 

 color and sweet flavor, and is pliant and yieldina, 

 not crisp and hard, as when it is too nuich cured 

 by long exposure to the sun. If interrupted by 

 rains o7 showery weather, more labor is required 

 in drying the grass so as to prevent mildew. 1' 

 it is pultip wet, it will heat quickly even in small 

 cocks ; heme, constant vigilance is necessary in 

 securing it from excessive dampness, and it must 

 be completely dry when taken to be stacked. It is 

 a sale precaution to throw open in the morning as 

 many cocks as shall be hauled to the stack during 

 the day. 



MARLING IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



# * * 1 am still pressing on with the marl, 

 and have collecipd on my bluff, since I planted 

 my crop, some 25,000 bushels, and am still bring- 

 io'' up 2400 bushels per week ; I shall begin to 

 ha'ul It out as soon as I gather fodder. The for- 

 wardness of cotton will interlere with me some, 

 as I shall have litile or no lime between gathering 

 (odder and commencing to pick, but 1 am re- 

 solved to have between 600 and 700 acres marled 

 for the next crop. The land marled this year 

 shows the effects very plainly, and that marled 

 earliest shows best, which gives me faith in its 

 continuin'^ to improve. I think, as thmks every 

 one, thal'the eflect this year is fully equal to a 

 fair coat of our stable manure. Both the corn and 

 cotton marled are also in advance ol earlier plant- 

 ings, apparently a week or 10 days now 1 hnd 

 that some bald places have been injured, but, to 

 counterbalance, low wet places which 1 thougbt 



,00 wet lor marl, have proved to have been only 

 too sour heretofore, and are bearing finely. L>ly 

 experimental acres in corn will atlord a pretty lair 

 (est, but not in cotton. It turns out that the acres 

 without marl and with the 300 bushels of marl 

 were far superior in point of soil to those with the 

 100 and 200 bushels. I was deceived by ttie 

 stalks of cotton. The last year being a very pe- 

 culiar one, the poorer acres produced a/ vvell as 

 Ihe best. In addition to this, the marled land be- 

 inc^ slower to come up, my overseer planted it a 1 

 ov'^er acrain. The acre unmarled vegetated earliest, 

 and was only replanted; half of it is 10 days or more 

 older than the others. On the whole, however, 1 

 am fully satisfied, and if it goes on as it now pro- 

 mises, I shall go on until I marl all my planting 

 land. Mv people all say the marl has very much 

 improved the land for working. The stitt parts 

 are mellowed, and the light made more consisten 

 They say, too, that they can work the nut-grass 

 better, and kill more of U. This terrible nuisance 

 made its appearance a few years ago ""J^y 

 place. I have done nothing to arrest it, lor i 



