NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



557 



to harvest the first and last crop sowed, and thus 

 obtain a demonstration of the natural productive- 

 ness of the soil and of the increase by reason of 

 the crops plowed in. Otherwise, I should not have 

 required a grain-crop from the poor old field at all 



[n the month of June, when the little herbage 

 the land bore was at its greatest height, it was 

 turned under, and three pecks of buckwheat were 

 sown to the acre and harrowed in. The crop was 

 harvested in the autumn, yielding eight bushels of 

 grain per acre. In May following, the land was 

 again plowed, one bushel of buckwheat was sown 

 on each acre, and harrowed in. As soon as the 

 crop blossomed, it was plowed in. A heavy chain, 

 attached to the plow-beam, immediately forward 

 of the standard of the mould-board, and to the off- 

 end of the evener, lopped the stalks down so that 

 they were pretty well covered up. The field was 

 then rolled ; the same quantity of buckwheat was 

 again sowed ; in September, the crop blossomed 

 and was plowed in, the land was then rolled, and 

 sowed with one and a-half bushels of winter rye to 

 the acre. In June following, the rye had made 

 a remarkably thick, luxuriant growth, and was 

 plowed in; the land was then rolled, sowed with 

 one bushel of buckwheat, together with six pounds 

 of red clover, a peck of herds-grass, and two pecks 

 of red-top seeds to each acre, and harrowed and 

 rolled. The buckwheat was harvested, and yield- 

 ed eighteen bushels of grain to the acre, — being an 

 increase of more than one hundred per cent, over 

 the first crop. At the time of sowing the grass 

 seed, the soil had been brought to a fine mellow 

 tilth, so that they germinated well ; the following 

 season being sufficiently moist, the young grass 

 came on well ; and the field became covered with 

 a valuable sward,which it has ever since maintained 

 — now some ten years. Any half acre of the land 

 has been worth more, as pasture, than the four 

 acres were previous to the manuring. I ought 

 further to state, that in skinning the land with 

 rye, the plowing had been about four inches deep ; 

 and that in the course of turning in the green crops, 

 the plow was gradually introduced into the sub- 

 sod, until at last three inches in depth were mingled 

 with the four inches of top-soil, and with the vege- 

 table manure plowed in. The expense of the 

 three crops turned in, and of the grass-seed and 

 getting it in, was ten dollars and twenty cents per 

 acre, reckoning labor and materials at the prices 

 they were then going at. 



The late Judge Hayes, of South Berwick, Me. 

 was a pioneer in the improvement of worn-out 

 land. His pastures were not so hilly and stony 

 as to prevent plowing, though they were more or 

 less rolling of surface. For twenty-five years, he 

 had been in the practice of plowing them once in 

 six or seven years, turning the sod at convenient 

 times after haying, then harrowing and sowing 

 herds-grass and red-top seeds, with winter rye, 

 and red and white clover seeds on a late snow the 

 following spring. The rye was fed off by the cat- 

 tle while the young grass was coming on to cover 

 the land. The mosses, small bushes, ferns, sour 

 grasses, and droppings of the cattle being placed 

 beneath, and a fresh surface brought up ; and the 

 gradually decaying sod keeping the soil mellow, as 

 well as furnishing support to the new seeding ; 

 the quality and quantity of the feed gradually im- 

 proved. On spots where wild plants and sour 

 herbage originally flourished, the cultivated grasses 



were brought in. In this way most of the pas- 

 ture-fields had been gone over three or four times 

 during the life-time of my late friend ; and he con- 

 fidently recommended such practice to others, as 

 worthy of invitation. 



Pasture-fields that are pretty smooth, not of 

 very rolling surface, and not too far from home, 

 may be advantageously improved by an occasional 

 manuring and a rotation of crops. In other words, 

 they may be plowed, manured, tilled one or two 

 years in hoed crops, then laid down to a variety 

 of grasses with grain, mowed one or two years 

 and pastured four or five years, or the mowing 

 may be omitted, and they may be pastured six to 

 eight years. Managed in this way, they will, 

 while in grass, yield much more feed, proportion- 

 ately, than they would if kept perpetually in grass. 

 A portion of my pasture-fields being smooth enough 

 to plow, and conveniently situated for being fenced, 

 and some of the tillage land affording good water 

 for stock, I occasionally pasture a tillage-field 

 while putting a piece of pasture land through a 

 course of plowing, manuring, a rotation of crops, 

 and getting it down to grass again. Where the 

 requisite circumstances are favorable enough to 

 make this kind of tillage conveniently practicable, 

 it is very good farming, leaving one with less poor, 

 unproductive land than almost any other course 

 would. Especially is it advantageous in the vi- 

 cinity of populous villages, where pasturage is in 

 great demand and commands a high price. I have 

 particularly seen the advantage of this mode of 

 culture during the late dry summer. The fields 

 recently seeded anew to pasture, after a manuring 

 and rotation of crops, kept green and supplied my 

 cows with fresh feed, while the old pastures were 

 parched by the drought, and became completely 

 used up for the season. 



Worn-out pastures, however rough and stony, 

 may be made very productive by planting them with 

 the common yellow locust tree. A completely tri- 

 umphant illustration of the great value of the lo- 

 cust as an improver of poor land, may be seen on 

 the farm of Clark Rice, Esq., in Dummerston, 

 Vt. I have just returned from a ride to his place, 

 whither I went for the purpose of observing his 

 improvement in this way in order to be able to 

 speak of them in this communication. 



A poor old sand knoll, that could not cover it- 

 self with grass, and bearing little vegetation of 

 any kind, was fifteen years ago planted with young 

 locust trees. It has now an open, pretty grove of 

 trees standing upon it, and its surface is covered 

 with a fine grass sward, which this year gave a 

 good swarth, and now has a taller and thicker 

 aftermath upon it than there is upon any of the 

 mowing fields of the farm. The locust has made 

 the improvement ; nothing having been done for 

 the land except to plant the trees. Some of the 

 trees are ten inches through at the butt, and would 

 make excellent posts for fences. 



The farm has also another grove of locusts, twelve 

 years old, standing upon, a high ledgy knoll, the 

 rock being in some places bare and in others from 

 six to twelve inches below the surface. The larger 

 trees growing here would now make good posts. 

 A thick green growth of grass covers the surface, 

 wherever there is any soil above the rock. A til- 

 lage field adjoining, which has always been well 

 cared for, has not as much aftermath upon it as 

 the knoll has. 



