250 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 4. 



to distribute it more evenly, it not being from 

 its increased specific gravity so liable to be 

 affected by the wind. "Another advantage gain- 

 ed is — it vegetates with much greater certainly. 



Herds grass makes good hay for milch cows, 

 being soft and nutritious, but the yield is not equal 

 to other grasses, either for hay or pasture. — It may, 

 however, be sown to profit on cold damp lands, 

 where it thrives better than on dry land, and will 

 grow on land too wet for any of the other grasses 

 enumerated above. 



1 prefer clover and orchard grass mixed to feed 

 catlle with in hay or pasture: and timothy and clo- 

 ver for horses. Although the clover ripens earlier 

 than the timothy; yet if cut. when in bloom, they 

 m;il a better hay than either do separately. Ow- 

 ing to the astringent quality of the timothy, horses 

 fed alone on it constantly, become costive, if not 

 feverish, and sometimes both; these being the ne- 

 cessary consequences of such a condition of the 

 bowels, when long continued. This injurious and 

 natural tendency of the timothy, is corrected by 

 the clover; its admixture therefore with the latter 

 is absolutely necessary to the preservation of the 

 health of horses. Should some of the clover when 

 mowed with the timothy be so ripe as to crumble 

 on making it into hay, it should not be considered 

 as a loss; it lalls to the ground where it decomposes, 

 and in part repays the soil for what it has abstract- 

 ed from it, and thus serves to fertilize it and enable 

 it the better to nourish and bring forth its next 

 crop. 



12th Query. What quantity of seed of each 

 of the several grasses should be sown — when — 

 and how should the ground be prepared, manured, 

 &c? 



Answer to the 12th Query. In order to prepare 

 lands in the best manner for grass seed, all the na- 

 tive grass and weeds must be completely eradica- 

 ted by the culture of mellowing crops; such as In- 

 dian corn, tobacco, cotton or potatoes, or by a 

 cleansing fallow of repeated plough ings and liar- 

 rowings during the spring and summer; and if not 

 rich enough to produce from five to six barrels, of 

 five bushels each of corn, to the acre, manure 

 the land and plough it in with a shallow fur- 

 row just before sowing the seed. If lime or 

 ashes should be used, it will be best to harrow 

 them in. 



1 prefer sowing the spear grass seeds in the lati- 

 tude of Baltimore from the 1st to the 25th of Sep- 

 tember. However, on stiff clay they may be 

 sown later, as also on sandy lands, owing to the 

 injurious effects resulting from their heated sur- 

 face. For every degree south of, and parallel with, 

 Baltimore, and the sea-coast, sow the spear grass 

 seeds about ten days later: and in the spring sow 

 clover seed tendays^arlier. 



'• I sow about the same quantity of oat grass seed 

 & of orchard, and about five quarts of timothy 

 seed, and one-half a bushel of herds. It is the 

 neatest way to sow the spear grasses by them- 

 selves: nor do they require, in my opinion, the pro- 

 tection of grain crops; but it is however, some- 

 times a convenience to sow these seeds on wheat, 

 rye and oat fields — and often very judicious in a 

 routine of c-rops. It is not, nevertheless, always 

 best on grazing farms, the shattering grain fre- 

 quently proving a weed to the succeeding grass 

 crops, whilst those grain crops, themselves, sub- 

 tract much of the nutriment which should have 



been permitted to, and otherwise would, have sus- 

 tained the grass. 



Respectfully, thy friend, 



KOBERT SINCLAIR. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



ON THE BFNEF1T DERIVED FROM THE PEA 

 CROP. 



Woodlands, (Ala.') April 15, 1835. 



Dear Sir — The great benefits derived from the 

 pea crop in the south, are generally known to 

 planters, but, it will be readily granted by those ac- 

 quainted with southern agriculture, that the advan- 

 tages which a knowledge of this fact might give 

 to them, are but partially experienced, owing to 

 the want of being informed of a successful and rea- 

 dy mode of preserving that valuable plant. In 

 No. 12, for December last, I think this subject is 

 brought forward by one of your writers, and whose 

 remarks has induced me, sir, to oiler to you, and 

 through your truly valuable periodical, the mite ot 

 my practical knowledge of the value of the pea, 

 arising from the manner in which I cultivate and 

 preserve it, and also apply it in the feeding and 

 support of stock. And here, I beg leave to sug- 

 gest an idea, the application of which I have fre- 

 quently noticed, and not unfrequently felt, viz. that 

 the relative value of any product of planting in- 

 dustry depends in a great degree on a judicious 

 application of it, and a strict adherence to a well 

 timed system of economy. Under a belief in the 

 truth of this remark, I have appropriated my pea 

 crop exclusively to the support of my milch cows 

 and sheep, and fattening kids. It aids equally in 

 the production of superior milk and butter during 

 the winter, and fine mutton and lamb — four pro- 

 minent items in comfortable living. The pea crop 

 claims a considerable credit from the circumstance 

 of being produced by the same labor that brings to 

 maturity a crop of corn. Another value is fairly 

 claimed by this plant, as an ameliorator of the soil, 

 independent of a valuable product. The pea can 

 be sown or planted after a crop of small grain is 

 taken from the ground. My practice is to cut my 

 rye and oats, what would be called early, or just 

 before they are perfectly ripe, remove the grain 

 from the field, and stack to cure, in some other, 

 and turn in the stubble as soon as possible on peas 

 previously sown — and this course more especially 

 to improve my land, which last would be partially 

 lost by cultivating the peas. This course is adopt- 

 ed also, not only to improve the land but to admit 

 the pea to be put into the ground in good time to se- 

 cure a heavy, crop, and to give greater value to 

 the straw of the oats or rye, and which I stack, or 

 rather house, sometimes the day after cutting, by 

 giving a liberal quantity of salt, sprinkling it over 

 as I stack the last. 



When I plant the pea with the corn crop, I put 

 the seed into the ground uniformly, so as to secure 

 one ploughing of the corn to the pea, as also a 

 liberal share of the hoe. As early as the pea 

 reaches maturity, anticipating about the time now 

 admitted, in saving small grain, viz. "just before it 

 is perfectly ripe," while yet the leaf and vine^x- 

 hibit a growing state, the jieas are pulled u"or 

 cut at the ground, with knives made for the pur- 

 pose of cutting down corn, the cutters returning 

 along the row, cut by them* and gathering into 



