452 



NEW EiVoLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



of sheep killed and injured in the county, during 

 the past year. The result is anything but encour- 

 aging to the canine species. The whole number 

 of sheep killed was one thousand and nine. The 

 number injured was one thousand, one hundred 

 and twenty-five. The amount of injury done, in 

 killed and damaged, is estimated at the round 

 sum of three thousand five hundred and eighty- 

 nine dollars. Add to this the amount it cost to 

 keep the dogs of this county, and we have them 

 costing more than perhaps any luxury — if such 

 they be — indulged in. 



For the D/etc England Farmer, 



FOWL MEADOW GRASS AND ITS 

 CULTIVATION. 



BY FREDERICK HOLBROOK. 



The late Hon. John Lowell, in a communica 

 tion to the old J^ew England Farmer, Vol. 9, for 

 the year 1831, remarked of the fowl meadow 

 grass : — "If this truly Yankee grass could be 

 translated to all the meadow bottoms, the natu- 

 rally moist, cold, half-peaty lands of New Eng- 

 land, their produce would be at least doubled. 

 Low meadows are chiefly furnished with the dif- 

 ferent species of carex, a coarse, sharp, worthless 

 grass, on which no animals but those which are 

 nearly famished will feed, and on which those 

 who do feed constantly decline. We have then 

 one species of grass not usually cultivated, which 

 is of inestimable value. It is no idle speculation, 

 but sober fact, our agriculture has much to gain 

 by the active, earnest, assiduous propagation ot 

 this grass." 



Having in former years read several interest- 

 ing articles upon the fowl meadow grass, I have 

 been led the more closely to examine, from time 

 to time, its habits and qualities, as I find it grow- 

 ing in the lower and more moist portions of the 

 intervales of the Connecticut river ; and I think 

 it will hear all the favorable commendation Mr. 

 Lowell has bestowed upon it. This grass grows 

 in patches here and there in the intervale lands 

 near my residence. Until within the last year, 

 «e have made no systematic eflTorts to cultivate 

 it. Still it has come in, of itself, and held long 

 possession in certain places, and grows very vig 

 orously wherever ii has foothold. It somewhat 

 resembles redtop in gener 1 shape and appear 

 ance of stalk, head and seed, but the head is of 

 a lighter or paler color, and the stalk grows tall- 

 er than redtop, and quite slender and delicate, 

 while the bottom or lower foliage is very abun- 

 dant and fine. It undoubtedly excels herdsgrass 

 and redtop for a large product and fine quality 

 of hay. It turns out a full swath to the scythe, 

 the hay is easily cured, remarkably soft, tender, 

 and succulent, excellent fur milch cows, and par- 

 ticularly for working oxen during their labors in 

 the spring season. 



Observing these qualities from time to time, I 

 was induced last year to procure two bushels of 

 the seed of fowl meadow grass, for the Vermont 

 Asylum, situated near me, with a view to its sys- 

 tematic cultivation on the lowland meadow be- 

 longing to that Institution. The seed was sown 

 about the middle of August, a year ago now, on 

 land prepared for it by deep, thorough plowing, 

 with the Universal double or sod and subsoil 



plow. The land had been thoroughly ditched, 

 and drained to the depth of three feet, about five 

 years previously, and was at that time stocked 

 down with herdsgrass and redtop. The wild 

 grasses beginning to appear somewhat, it was 

 thought best to plow it up and seed anew. The 

 land being very rich, and in a good state gener- 

 ally, no manure was applied to it last year, but 

 immediately after plowing, it was harrowed down 

 smooth and fine, and the seed sown and "bushed 

 in." A part of the fowl meadow seed was sown 

 alone, and a part mixed with herdsgrass and red- 

 top seed, each in about equal measure, and the 

 mixture sown on the remainder of the plowed 

 land. I obtained the seed of Nourse, Mason & 

 Co., Boston, and would have been glad of more, 

 but was informed by their seedsman that two 

 bushels v.'as all the seed the market then afford- 

 ed. How singular that so valuable a grass should 

 be so little cultivated for seed. 



On that portion of the land where the fowl 

 meadow seed was sown alone, the grass has come 

 very well indeed ; it is now heading out, and I 

 find it corresponds in every particular with the 

 grass growing about in patches in the intervale, 

 and which I had always taken for fowl meadow, 

 judging from the descriptions I had read of it. 

 The grass from the new seeding will be ready 

 for the scythe iu a week or two, and is thick and 

 of extra quality. On that portion where the fowl 

 meadow, herdsgrass and redtop seeds were sown 

 in mixture, the fowl meadow has vegetated and 

 grown, as well as the other two grasses, and the 

 whole will soon be fit to cut. It is quite appa- 

 rent, however, that the fowl meadow is to be the 

 best grass of the three. 



This lowland meadow embraces a number of 

 acres, the draining and reclaiming of which I 

 have felt much interested in, and have heretofore 

 quite fully described in the JVew England Far- 

 mer. As fast as it becomes desirable to plow and 

 reseed this land again, we intend to stock it down 

 with the fowl meadow grass, believing that to be 

 the most valuable of all grasses for such kind of 

 low moist land. 



The fowl meadow grass is not liable to injury 

 from the flooding of the land by freshets. That 

 is a great merit, for these lowest portions of our 

 river lands are subject to overflow, and after a 

 winter or spring freshet, the water not unfre- 

 quently remains on the laud a week or fortnight 

 at a time ; and sometimes before one flood has 

 entirely subsided, another succeeds, and keeps 

 the land wet for three or four weeks. I infer that 

 the flooding is an advantage, rather than other- 

 wise, from the fact that wherever this grass has 

 come in, of itself, it has invariably done so on 

 those portions of the meadow that are overflowed. 

 The fowl meadow grass will last in the land for 

 an indefinite period. The self- seeded patches of 

 it. about in our meadow, have flourished there for 

 a long time, in spite of wind and tide, yielding 

 as full and good crops now as at any former pe- 

 riod. 



It is universally the impression among our far- 

 mers, that fowl meadow grass should not be cut 

 till the seed ripens ; that too early cutting has a 

 tendency to enfeeble the roots ; and that it per- 

 petuates its hold on the soil by annually shed- 

 ding its seed thereon. I am not able to speak 

 from positive experience on this point ; and 



