294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



tivating all the trees, vegetables and flowers com- 

 mon to good gardens, and flourishing in the south- 

 em States. It is well arranged, the descriptions 

 are clear and practical, and it cannot fail to prove 

 of essential service to the gardener of the South, 

 The author says, that, with them, "gardening in all 

 its departments is generally deemed the peculiar 

 pro\'ince of the ladies, and that if Mr. Downing 

 had lived at the South, he would never have asked 

 'What is the reason American ladies do not love to 

 work in their gardens ?' " We are glad to learn 

 this fact, and hope their Northern sisters will "make 

 a note on't." The author has done his country a 

 good service. By William N. White, .of Athens, 

 Ga. Published by Saxton & Co., N. Y., and for 

 sale at Saxton's Agricultural Depot, 81 Washing- 

 ton St., Boston. 



For the Neto England Farmer. 



IMPROVING PASTURE LANDS. 



BY PROF. J. A, NASH. 



A -writer in the Country Gentleman, nameless 

 and placeless, so far as the communication shows, 

 has started a thought on the above subject, which 

 has, at least the merit of novelty. 



His remarks relate to side-hill lands, which are 

 apparently underlaid by a crust or pan, preventing 

 the water sinking, and causing it to flow laterally 

 near the surface, and occasionally to ooze out at the 

 surface after heavy rains. He describes these lands 

 as producing a little fine, furzy grass, a few hard- 

 hacks, and here and there a bunch of brakes 

 enough in all to "keep poorly," (he might almost 

 have said to starve,) one cow to five acres. He 

 thinks that lands bearing this description, are gen- 

 erally infested with poisonous ingredients, often 

 some salt of iron ; and that underdraining is the 

 appropriate remedy ; he suggests that the drainage 

 water might, in many cases, be used for the pur- 

 pose of irrigation ; although it would issue from 

 the ground full of poisonous matters, hurtful in 

 their first effect to the grass to be flowed, yet that 

 these poisonous matters are soon neutralized in the 

 sun and air ; and that the water, containing, as it 

 would, other ingredients, favorable to vegetation, 

 would be beneficial. He suggests the idea of run- 

 ning drains from the upper edge of the pasture, 

 short distances, down the slope, making them deep 

 at the upper end, but less so as you proceed down- 

 ward, running out at the surface at the lower end ; 

 then commencing other drains, midway between 

 the lower extremities of these, and then in like 

 manner others, and so on to the lower side of the 

 pasture, or the foot of the hill, as the case might be. 



The drains, if his suggestions were tried, might 

 best be of pebble stones, if such were plenty, but 

 otherwise of tiles, except at the lower ends, where 

 they would be exposed to frost, and where some 

 other material would need to be used. The process 

 would not be necessarily expensive, as such drains 

 could be excavated mostly by the plow, and the 

 earth returned by the scraper. The suggestion 

 would seem to be nf some importance, as applied 

 to such kind of land. But the writer adds, that, 

 inasmuch as the benefit of draining some lands is 

 vet but little appreciated in this country, and will 



hardly be gone into by many, a tolerable substitute 

 for draining might be found in subsoiling ; that if 

 we should commence on the upper border of such 

 a pasture, and run furrows downward, short dis- 

 tances, say six rods, with the subsoil plow, making 

 them deep at the upper end and shallower till they 

 run out, placing them as in the marks below, the 

 efifect would be, on this side-hill land, at once to 

 drain the soil, and to irrigate the lower portions of 

 the pasture ; and he supposes both would be bene- 

 eficial, and that the operation would not be expen- 

 sive, even if repeated every few years. The sub- 

 soil plow, it will be understood, would not break 

 the tiu-f, but only make a cut through it, stir- 

 ring and loosening the subsoil below, so as to afford 

 a passage for the water with whatever poisonous 

 substances were dissolved in it, to the surface. He 

 would have these cuts with the subsoil plow, some 

 10 or 12 feet apart, and arranged as below, the 

 size of the line indicating the depth of the cut in 

 different parts. 



This last suggestion, about thus subsoiling some 

 side hill pastures, could, of course, apply to but a 

 small proportion of our pasture lands, because 

 most of them are of a different character, but it 

 may be important in relating to those to which it 

 is applicable. I am aware that it will be objected, 

 that subsoiling is useless, unless preceded by under- 

 draining, — for it will be said that the gashes made 

 by the subsoil plow fill up shortly, if the water be 

 not first taken out. The objection is unanswerable 

 so far as relates to flat lands ; but would not these 

 short cuts with the subsoil plow, down a side-hill, 

 relieve the ground of water, first over the cut, and 

 then laterally half-way to the next cuts ? Perhaps 

 it would be better if the cuts with the subsoil plow 

 should be nearer each other, say half a rod apart, 

 and not more than three or four rods in length. 

 Will not some one who has cold, sour side-hill pas- 

 ture, try the experiment when the spring opens, 

 and at some future time report the result. It could 

 be tried on a single acre. If the cuts were made 

 eight feet from each other, and three rods in length, 

 there would be on an acre about one hundred of 

 the cuts, and their aggregate length would be three 

 hundred rods. With a stout pair of cattle and a 

 good driver, the work could be done in one hour ; 

 and although it would be but an experiment found- 

 ed, it is confessed, upon theory, and on theory 

 alone, yet there can scarcely be a doubt that the 

 effect would be good, — it would be, to tap the land, 

 to draw out the sour, poisonous water, to neutral- 

 ize its hurtful solutions, or to change them into in- 

 gredients* favorable to vegetation, and then to use 

 the water so cured and improved by exposure to 

 sun and air, for the purpose of irrigation. 



The theory is — and the reader must judge of 

 its soundness — that the water in such a side-hill, 

 instead of sinking away into the earth, creeps along 



