FOG 



FOL 



153 



And no man knows how favourable 

 the latter part of winter may be. 

 Advantage also may be made of 

 browsing in the latter more than in 

 the former part of winter, as the 

 buds then begin to swell, and the 

 twigs have more sap in them than 

 before. 



When browsing is depended on, 

 the farmer who has salt hay,shoiild 

 preserve a sufficient quantity of it 

 to the latter part of winter. It 

 will give the cattle a high relish for 

 browse. If they have no salt hay, 

 they should have salt, to increase 

 their appetite. 



Cows that are near calving,should 

 not be driven out after the browse, 

 for fear of accidents. They should 

 be kept on the best fodder ; not 

 be tied up with the other catUe ; 

 but each one should be fed in an 

 apartment by herself, without ty- \ 

 ing. I 



FOG, FOGGE, or FOGAGE, 

 long grass and stumps of grass, re- 

 maining in mowing grounds and 

 pastures till winter. 



This is accounted in general a 

 benefit to the land ; especially ■ 

 when the grass is not of a bad and 

 sour kind. The snow presses it 

 down close to the surface, where \ 

 it shelters the roots of the grass, 

 corrupts it, and turns it to manure. 

 But when mowing grounds are fed 

 very close in the fall, the ensuing 

 crop is poorer, the roots being 

 more injured by the feet and teeth 

 of cattle, and more exposed to the 

 weather. The dung they drop, ' 

 though it be considerable, will not 

 wholly repair the damage of close 

 feeding and trampling. 



But fog is most essentially ser- 

 20 



viceable on a soil of the clay kind. 

 It forms a cover which retains the 

 rains and dews, in the following 

 spring and summer, so as to give 

 the surface a more equable and 

 constant moisture ; and prevents 

 the binding and cracking of the 

 surface by the heat of the sun. — 

 Nothing can belter oppose the ill 

 ; effects of a dry season on such a 

 soil. 



I Where fog is left very long, it 

 checks the growth of the young 

 grass of the next year, causes it 

 to spring up feebly, and materially 

 impedes the progress of the scythe. 

 Where the tield is not adjacent to 

 houses or wood lots, so that they 

 may not be endangered by tire, it 

 is very useful, in a dry day, to set 

 tire to the fog, and burn it. This 

 is in no respect injurious to the fu- 

 ture growth, but the ashes produ- 

 ced by the combustion in burning 

 tlie old fog, causes the new grass 

 to spring with increased strength 

 and luxuriance. The experiment, 

 however, should not be attempted, 

 except in insulated fields, remote 

 from houses and trees, and espe- 

 cially from evergreens. It should 

 be done early in April. 



F'OLDING of land, confining 

 sheep, or other cattle, nightly,in a 

 small lot or yard, for the purpose 

 of enriching the soil. The benefit 

 arising from this is so great, that it 

 ought not to be neglected, especi- 

 ally in those parts of the country, 

 where the wolves do not come. 

 Some turn in their other cattle with 

 the sheep. This is good conduct, 

 when the soil is warm sand or gra- 

 vel ; and not bad when it is loamy. 

 But it may be better to vard the 



