DEVOTED TO AGRIOUIiTURB AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, JULY, 1856. 



NO. 7. 



JOEL NOUKSE, Proprietor, 

 Office.. ..QniNCT IIall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FKED'K nOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



GRASS-HAYIKG-HAY. 





TLY is the month 

 M'hen the prmcipal 

 portion of the hay 

 crop in New Eng- 

 land is secured. It 

 is our staple crop — 

 the one by which 

 we mainly increase 

 the fertility of our 

 farms, and having a 

 ^1 eater money val- 

 ue than any single 

 crop produced at 

 the South ; — either 

 ^ their cotton, tobacco 

 ^ or corn crop is in- 

 -^ significant, compar- 

 ^ ed with it; and New- 

 England, rocky and 



^^'^^ sterile as much of it 



Such, mainly, are the lands which should be de- 

 voted to grass. 



The importance of this crop would justify the 

 farmer in making a good many experiments, and 

 in devoting considerable time to an investigation of 

 it in all its bearings. We believe there is no crop 

 that is commonly cultivated, in which so much loss 

 is suffered as in the hay crop. After a selection 

 and proper preparation of suitable lands, and seed- 

 ing and growing the crop, the first error usually 

 committed is in the 



_- /^^ is, and whose soil is 

 contemned by those 

 living on easier and richer lands, produces a sur- 

 plus for those who possess every facility for raising 

 it, if they had industry and knew how. 



Much of our best land for this crop still lies 

 ■waste; it is in meadow and swamp that need 

 either thorough reclaiming, or if partially reclaimed, 

 draining and deep plowing. When such lands are 

 once well set in grass, they will produce profitable 

 crops for many successive years, with little annual 

 expense. Another kind of excellent grass land is 

 of granite formation, at a higher level than the 

 meadow, but still having land abounding in springs 

 above it. These lands are a heavy loam, quite of- 

 ten a clayey loam, and generally pretty rocky. It 

 is sometimes as expensive to reclaim these, as it is 

 the swamp, but when once swarded and fed annu- 

 ally with a moderate dressing of compost, they will 

 produce from two to three tons of excellent herds- 

 grass and red-top, for a dozen years in succession. 



THE TIME OF CUTTING. 



Professor Martyn says, "grasses are Nature's 

 care," We wish they were more frequently the 

 care of man. We are well aware of the variety of 

 opinions entertained as to the proper time of cut- 

 ting, and of the diflficulty of not being able to se- 

 cure the whole crop at the precisely appropriate 

 time ; still there is a carelessness or indifference ex- 

 isting, which results in serious loss. The farmer 

 must remember that it is not so much the hulk of 

 hay on his scaffolds, that is to afford nutriment to 

 his cattle and take them through the winter in 

 good flesh and health, as it is that the hay is se- 

 cured with all its natural juices which it is possi- 

 ble to preserve. 



In order to secure this it must first be cut at the 

 right time. If cut too soon, before the sap is fair- 

 ly elaborated into nutritive properties, such as su- 

 gar, mucilage, albumen, &c., it shrinks immensely, 

 and when dry has but little bulk or nutriment. On 

 the other hand, if left too long, the plant expends 

 its energies upon the seed in accordance with the 

 natural law to perpetuate its kind. The seeds ri- 

 pen, and fall to the ground and are lost, while the 

 stem and leaves are little better than oat or barley 

 straw. 



But if the favorable moment can be improved to 

 cut the grass just as its blossoms begin to fall, 

 when the seed has formed, but is not perfected, 

 then we secure all its nutritive properties if the 



