1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



449 



For the New England Farmei , 



PASTURE GRASSES. 



The suhject of improving our pastures is receiv- 

 ing much attention, and is one well deserving of 

 much more consideration than it has yet received. 

 In our natural pastures, from four to six acres are 

 required for the pasturage of one cow. In pastures 

 properly prepared, half this number of acres is 

 found sufficient. Indeed, many instances may be 

 named, in which one acre h s yielded an ample 

 supply to a cow for five months. But most of our 

 pasture lands are of such a character, that we can 

 never hope to reach this standard, liand that will 

 feed one cow per acre, will yield from one to two 

 tons of good hay, worth from twelve to twenty dol 

 lars. This is too expensive pasturage. The land 

 is worth more for hay or other cro])s. Some years 

 ago, I pastured a cow upon an acre of intervale 

 land, and she did w^ell. But the land would have 

 yielded a ton and a half of good hay, worth fifteen 

 dollars standing. Cows were pastured in the vicinity 

 for 7 or 8 dollars per year. This was not good 

 economy. It was merely a matter of convenience. 

 But if our pasture lands can be made to yield dou- 

 ble the amount of feed they now do, the advantage 

 must be too obvious to need a word of comment. 

 Our nati^ pastures contain from twenty to forty 

 kinds of plants. Many of them are little better 

 than worthless weeds. Some of them contain so 

 much bitter extractive matter, that cattle will not 

 eat them. Others are so dry and tough that cattle 

 will not eat them, so long as they can find any- 

 thing green and succulent. These various grasses 

 arrive at maturity at different seasons of the year. 

 This is a circumstance of great importance — and 

 shows the necessity of having a variety of grasses 

 in a pasture that is to be fed during the whole sea- 

 son. Some grasses, as the meadow foxtail, the or- 

 chard grass, the meadow fescue, the herds grass, 

 the sweet vernal grass, and the brome, put forth 

 early and are productive in May and June. Oth- 

 ers, as the oat grass, the dogs-tail, the various mead 

 ow grasses, and red and white clovers, and the 

 smooth fescue, yield most feed in the summer 

 months. The various bent grasses, the wheat grass, 

 the birds foot clover, and some others, are green 

 and vigorous in the rutumn. By a mixture of these 

 various grasses, a green and tender herbage is fur- 

 nished through the season. This is seldom or nev- 

 er done in artificial pastures, where but two or 

 three kinds of grass are sowed. The various grass- 

 es and ])lants on which cattle feed, possess very dif- 

 ferent properties. Some contribute more to the 

 production of fat. Others yield more milk, while 

 others furnish in larger quantity the bone-making 

 materials. Others again have properties by which 

 they affect the various glands of the body. Some 

 promote the secretion of urine, others the bile, oth- 

 ers the saliva. When obtained in due proportion, 

 they ])roniote the health and vigor of the animal. 

 The finest natural pastures contain about twenty 

 kinds of valuable grasses, some one or more of 

 which is in a green and thriving state every month 

 in the season, from early spring till late in the fall. 

 The spring grasses are, the Alopecuvus Pratensis, 

 (meadow foxtail,) Phleum Pratense, (meadow cat's 

 tail or herds grass,) Anthoxanthum Odorato, 

 (sweet vernal grass,) Dactylis Glomerata, (orchard 

 grass,) Festuca Pratense, (meadow fescue,) Holcus 

 A.venaccus, (tall oat grass,) Solium Perenne, (rye 



grass,) Bromus Arvensis, (field brome.) and the Poa 

 Annua, (annual meadow grass.) 



The summer grasses are, the Cynosurus Crista- 

 tus, (crested dogstail,) Poa Trivialis and Poa Pra- 

 tensis, (rough and smooth stalked meadow grass,) 

 Festuca Duriasculus, (hard fescue grass,) Trifolium 

 Pratense Perenne, (perennial red clover,) Trifolium 

 Repens, (white clover,) and the Festuca Glabra, 

 (smooth fescue.) 



The fall grasses are, the Agrostis Vulgaris, (the 

 various red tops,) Triticum Repens, (creeping 

 wheat grass,) and the Lotus Major, (birdsfoot tre- 

 foil) Some of these are annual plants, that is, they 

 arrive at maturity, drop their seed and die in one 

 year. Others are biennial, or require two years to 

 attain maturity, and then die, like winter rye and 

 wheat. Others are perennial, that is, spring up from 

 the root every year, for many years in succession. 

 Where pastures abound in worthless grasses, the 

 best remedy, if the nature of the land admits it, is 

 to plow and cultivate two or three years, with some 

 hoed crop — by which they will be killed out. Some- 

 times the larger and more vigorous grasses may be 

 brought in by means of plaster or ashes or ground 

 bone or compost spread upon the surface. These 

 grasses thus stimulated, will attain a rank growth, 

 and choke out the less valuable and sour grasses. 

 Harrowing old jjastures with a sharp harrow, and 

 sowing them with oat grass, herds grass, or red and 

 white clover, and dressing them with plaster or 

 bone dust, will often succeed in bringing in a much 

 larger and better growth of feed, and is money and 

 labor well laid out. Dry plains, that yield but lit- 

 tle grass, may be greatly improved by this treat- 

 ment, applied to them in August, so that the grass- 

 es may get well rooted before winter. The late 

 excellent Daniel P. King, of Essex county, had a 

 tract of light, sandy plain land, which hebrought 

 into good condition, by plowing it in the summer, 

 and apjilying a dressing of compost manure, and 

 seeding it down with different kinds of grasses. He 

 usually took off from one to two tons of hay, the 

 next season — and then pastured three or four 

 years, and repeated the same process. He was 

 highly satisfied with the result of this treatment. 



R. 



MOLE CRICKET. 



No insect of the cricket kind is so extraordinary, 

 in its appearance and habits, as the acheta gryllo' 

 talpa, commonly known as the mole-cricket. The 

 color is of a dusky brown, and at the extremity of 

 the tail there are two hairy appendages ; the body 

 consists of eight scaly joints, and the thorax is cov- 

 ered with a very hard and thick shield. But a most 

 curious peculiarity of this insect, from which it re- 

 ceived its name, is the form of its forefeet, which 

 spread out precisely like those of the mole, are 

 strong, webbed and hairy, and terminate in separ- 

 ate claws. This curious insect is much larger in 

 Europe than in this country, and much more trou- 

 blesome and annoying. It often undermines the 

 banks of canals, and destroys extensive fields and 

 vegetable gardens, by devouring the roots of the 

 plants, causing the to])s to wither and die. It gen- 

 erally runs backward, and is said to burrow faster 

 even than the mole itself. 



Gardeners specially detest this insect, as in a sin- 

 gle night it will run along a newly-sown furrow, rob- 

 bing it of its entire contents ; for nothing can es- 



