1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



157 



to the time of cutting — it grows too much m de~ ! 

 tached sods and does not sod completely the ground 

 — the hay is too coarse and rough — cattle and 

 horses are not as /bnd of it as clover or timothy ; 

 but lor a pasture grass he admired it particularly 

 when sown with other grass. It is much ear- 

 lier than blue grass, timothy or clover, and at- 

 fords grazing at a season when it is most needed, 

 and upon the whole he thought it a valuable grass. 

 Timothy he preferred as a meadow-grass to either 

 of the others which he tried. He tried sowing 

 at two different seasons, and on different kinds 

 of land. He objected to spring sowing on two 

 accounts ; one was the ditficuliy of" getting the 

 ground in a suitable order to receive the seed ; 

 and another was, if any weeds were in the 

 ground, they grew up faster than the grass 

 and injured the meadow. He preferred old 

 land for meadow, it being less liable to have weeds, 

 and the grass not so liable to fall ; and from the 

 different trials he made, was of the opinion that 

 one season with another yielded a better crop, and 

 furthermore, you were improving land that most 

 needed it. He also tried fall sowing in different 

 ways, with and without grain , with grain, (usu- 

 ally wheat,) he first prepared the ground very 

 nicely by ploughing and harrowing, and, sowing 

 the grain and leaving the ground as level as pos- 

 sible, sowed the timothy seed and did nothing 

 more. The objections to this mode of making 

 meadows are two-fold — 1st, It is one season before 

 you get any benefit of the grass, and another is, 

 the timothy goes to seed before the wheat is cut 

 and the heads of the grass are cut off in cutting 

 the wheat which usually causes your grass to be 

 too thin ; likewise the stubble is very much in 

 the way in mowing the next year. He preferred 

 preparing the ground well in the month of Sep- 

 tember and sowing the seed and then rolling the 

 ground, which broke all the clods and leveled the 

 ground, which is an advantage in mowing. He 

 preferred sowing it much thicker than is common 

 among farmers. A gallon to the acre is what is 

 generally used ; a peck is nearer what should be 

 used. By sowing in the fall, and sowing thick, 

 you at once sod your land and are enabled to derive 

 full benefit from it the next season, and in addition, 

 it keeps the weeds from growing up in your mea- 

 dow; whereas the usual idea is, sow thin and let 

 your grass-seed get ripe before cutting, in order 

 to set your meadow more effectually ; by so doing, 

 all the vacant spots of ground most certainly 

 grow up in weeds, thereby injuring your grass, 

 and finally your meadow. The primary object of 

 grass in this country is for grazing purposes ; for 

 this purpose we wish to put two kinds of land in 

 grass — our new or wood -land, and our old worn out 

 lands. Our old lands we usually sowed in wheat 

 or rye, and then in JVlarch, when the ground is 

 thrown up by the frost, we sowed a mixture of 

 timothy, blue grass and clover, and of late mix- 

 ed some orchard -grass, which is, I think, very 

 advantageous. In this way the grain protects the 

 grass from the heat of the sun, and by the time 

 you wish to turn upon your stubble," you reap 

 the benefit of the stubble, and at the same 

 time knock the seed off your grass and more ef- 

 fectually set your ground. Some difficulty is ex- 

 perienced by Kentucky farmers in getting their 

 wood-lands set in grass, and it arises from two 

 eauses — the time of sowing, and the grass being 



pulled up by the roots by the stock in grazing. 

 The last is the cause of the general failure in put- 

 ting our hill-lands in grass, as a remedy for which, 

 I would suggest two means — 1st, Sow your grass 

 as soon as you save the seed, ?ay in July or Au- 

 gust; at that time the leaves of the former year 

 are sufficiently rotted lor the seed to germinate 

 and grow; the trees likewise furnish shelter lor 

 the seed, and by fall, your grass has begun to 

 take root, and then the falling of the leaves fur- 

 nishes a protection to the young grass during the 

 winter, and enables the grass to take root suf- 

 ficient to keep the stock from pulling up the 

 sods in grazing. All stock should be kept off 

 until your grass seed is ripe, and tfien turn on as 

 much as the grass will support for two or three 

 weeks, which is as long as it should be grazed the 

 first season, or at any rate until late in the fall. 

 We generally sow some timothy and clover seed 

 the spring following the sowing of the blue-grass, 

 but I think the fall would be best for sowing the 

 timothy, for the same reason advanced in rela- 

 tion to the blue grass. 



Let those who doubt the philosophy of the 

 above remarks relative to sowing grass, try it fur 

 themselves. Should you, or the committee, be able 

 to glean any thing li"om the above remarks, that 

 they or you may think, could be of any benefit 

 to the country, I shall feel myself amply paid for 

 the little trouble it may have put me to, in the re- 

 flection that 1 have thus been instrumental in 

 communicating such information. 



1 remain, your ob't, serv't., 



Chas. T. Garrard. 



Bourbon County, Ky., Jan. 15, 1839. 



THE ADVANTAGE OF STEAMING FOOD FOR 

 STOCK. CULTIVATION OF CORN. 



To the Editor of Uie Farmers' Register. 



King fVilliam, February 1839. 

 I have been using the root-steamer described in 

 the Cultivator, of January 1838, lor the last 12 

 months, and am so much pleased with it, that I 

 cannot refrain from adding my testimony in ita 

 fiivor, and recommending it to my brother larmers. 

 Mine was made by directions given in the Culti- 

 vator and has fully answered my expectations. 

 JVIy method of using it this winter, when, from 

 the dry summer and fall, we had so few vegeta- 

 bles, has been as follows. When fattening my 

 hogs, all the corn they consumed was steamed 

 until it became perfectly soft upon the ear, which, 

 of course, saved the trouble of shelling and the 

 toll of grinding. Upon this food almost exclusive- 

 ly, with the addition of a \'e,\\ vegetables which 

 we could spare from the garden, steamed with 

 the corn. I fattened my hogs, and never had as fat 

 hogs before, or as cheap pork. The corn, in 

 steaming, increases nearly double in quantity, and 

 I think a saving of at least one-third may be cal- 

 culated on. After my hogs were killed, we be- 

 gan to steam for beeves, milch-cows, hogs, and 

 horses. My plan is to put a sufficient quantity of 

 shattered corn for my hogs in the bottom of the 

 boiler, then ears of corn for my horses, short corn, 

 cotton seed, vegetables, &c., for my cows and 

 beeves, and then fill up with shucks, or any other 

 coarse provender for the oxen. The shucks, from 

 steaming, become very soft, and are greedily 



