350 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 7, J«34. 



JSKW JEN GLAND FARM JE 15. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 7, 1834. 



Wv. have given in this day's paper a valuable 

 communication from William Clark, Jim. on the 

 subjects of ploughing green sward, recruiting grass 

 lands, &c. In this, the writer refers to a commu- 

 nication from Eli as Phinney, Esq. on the same 

 subjects, which he thinks "worthy of a yearly re- 

 publication," &c. As we entirely coincide in opin- 

 ion with Mr. Clark, respecting the value of Mr. 

 l'hinney's communication to which he alludes, we 

 have concluded to give it at length, instead of our 

 usual variety under the editorial head. 



PLOUGHING GREENSWARD. 



]\Ir. Editor — Your correspondent " Dorches- 

 ter," in No. 1, vol. 3, of the N. E. Farmer, wish- 

 es for information on the subject of ploughing and 

 managing sWard land. The subject is certainly 

 one of great importance to farmers. Considering 

 the exhausted condition of most of our grounds, 

 and the expense of restoring them by the applica- 

 tion of manure, I am surprised that so little atten- 

 tion has been paid to this very essential part of 

 husbandry even by our most scientific and best 

 practical agriculturists. By the usual method ol 

 turning up the sward, and then cross ploughing 

 and harrowing, the sods are pushed about by the 

 plough, and dragged by the harrow, and so ex- 

 posed to the action of the sun and winds, that the 

 nutritive matter contained in the roots and tops of 

 the grasses is in a great measure wasted. By this 

 practice, the vegetable matter which was before 

 upon the surface, is brought there again, and the 

 poorer part of the soil, which should remain at the 

 top, whereby it would he greatly benefitted and 

 enriched by the fertilizing properties of the atmos- 

 phere, is returned to its original position beneath. 

 This is exactly the reverse of what it should be. 

 Let the roots and tops of the grasses, together 

 with all the vegetable matter on and near the sur- 

 face, be buried and retained to ferment and decom- 

 pose, and the poor earth be brought to and retain- 

 ed upon the surface, where, by culture and expo- 

 sure to the atmosphere, it will soon become a body 

 of rich mould. 



If the result of ray own experience will be of 

 any use to your correspondent, or the public, I give 

 it with pleasure. I ascertained by an accurate 

 experiment, that on the first of May, a single foot 

 of sward land, taken from a field that had been 

 mown for a number of years, the soil a light loam 

 with a gravelly bottom, and thinly set with red 

 top and herds-grass, contained nine ounces of veg- 

 etable matter, consisting of the roots and tops ol 

 the grasses, giving at this rate over twelve and a 

 quarter tons to the acre. I must confess 1 was 

 not a little surprised on finding the quantity so 

 much beyond what I had calculated, and it satis- 

 lied me of the necessity of adopting some plan by 

 which this valuable treasure might he turned to 

 good account. To make the most of this enor- 

 mous quantity of vegetable matter, as well for the 

 benefit of the immediate crops as for the eventual 

 improvement of the soil, would seem to be an ob- 

 ject worthy the consideration of farmers. 



My first trial was upon a piece of worn out pas- 

 ture hind. In the month of August I turned ovei 

 the sward as evenly as possible, then rolled with a 

 heavy loaded roller. The ground was then har- 

 rowed in the same direction as the furrows, with 

 a light horse burrow, and then sowed with buck- 



wheat, with red top and herds-grass seed. The 

 hush harrow was then drawn over it, and thin 

 rolled again. The harrowing was so light, that the 

 sod was not disturbed. No manure was used. 1 

 bad a lair crop of buckwheat. The grass seed 

 took well, and looked so promising ill the spring 

 following, I concluded to mow it. The crop of 

 hay greatly exceeded my expectations, and, as pas- 

 ture, it has been less affected by drought, and 

 yielded double the quantity of feed for my cattle 

 that it gave before ploughing. 



The success of this experiment induced me to 

 try another. On the first of May, 1S28, I bail two 

 acres of sward land, which had been considerably 

 exhausted by long cropping, yielding less than a 

 ion of red top and herds-grass to the acre, turned 

 over ; having a hand occasionally to follow the 

 plough with a hoe, for the purpose of turning over 

 such parts as the plough leal missed. The plough- 

 ing was from four to six inches deep, varying ac- 

 cording to the depth of the soil, taking care always 

 to go deep enough to bring to the surface a portion 

 of the gravelly and poorer part of the soil. After 

 ploughing, the outside furrow, which was turned 

 out, was taken into the cart, in convenient pieces, 

 an.d placed in the vacant space which was left in 

 the middle of the lot, whereby this space was just 

 filled, and no ridges lilt on the outside ; the field 

 was then rolled with a heavy roller, and the un- 

 even parts of the sward settled down, and the 

 whole made smooth. It was then harrowed length- 

 wise the furrows thoroughly with a horse harrow, 

 but so light as not to disturb the sod. Twenty 

 cart loads of compost, made of loam, peat, mud, 

 ami siahle dung, (a sufficient quantity of the latter 

 having been mixed to cause the whole mass to 

 ferment.) were then spread upon the acre. It was 

 again harrowed as before, and, from the evenness 

 of the surface, the field had more the appearance 

 of having been tilled lor a number of years. On 

 the sixth of May corn was planted upon the fur- 

 rows in drills parallel with them, three feet apart, 

 and the corn six inches distant in the rows, having 

 previously marked out the rows, three at a lime, 

 with an instrument made for the purpose, by which 

 the work was performed by one hand in less than 

 an hour. The ploughing between the rows ami 

 the hoeing was done without disturbing the sod ; 

 and the Dot only useless, hut injurious practice ol 

 ridging, or hilling the corn was carefully avoided. 

 The corn at first did not exhibit a very promis- 

 ing appearance, but as soon as the roots had ex- 

 tended into the enriching matter below, and be- 

 gan to expand in the sward, which had now be- 

 come open and mellow by fermentation, and the 

 parts of soil more minutely divided than it could 

 have been by the plough or hoe, it assumed a 

 healthy appearance, and grew more vigorous!} 

 than corn which I had planted upon a much bet- 

 ter soil, cultivated in the usual way. When the 

 ears were filling out, a time when the corn most 

 requires support, the roots easily penetrated the 

 mellow soil, and an abundance of nourishment 

 was afforded by the decomposing of the vegeta- 

 ble matter. The crop was harvested about the 

 middle of September. I did not measure the 

 produce for the purpose of ascertaining exactly 

 the quantity which was gathered, but some of' mj 

 neighbors who are good judges saw the field lie- 

 fore harvesting, and estimated it at from 70 to 80 

 bushels to the acre. My usual crop on sward 

 land cultivated in the common way, has been 

 from 35 to 45 bushels to the acre. As soon as 



the corn was harvested the stubble was loosened 

 up by limning a light horse plough lengthwise 

 through the rows, and then the whole smoothed 

 down by a bush harrow drawn crosswise. All 

 this was done without disturbing the sward. A 

 bushel of winter rye to the acre, and a sufficient 

 quantity id'gaass seed was then sowed, and tho 

 ground harrowed with a light barrow and rolled. 

 Rye has in my neighborhood, for some years 

 past, been a- very uncertain crop, — being almost 

 invariably subject to a blast, or mildew, which 

 attacks it while in the milk. It has however, as is 

 the case every where, I believe with rye, succeed- 

 ed better upon a new than an old soil. This cir- 

 cumstance induced me to believe that the new 

 and fresh earth, which had been turned up ami 

 kept upon the top of my sward land might fa- 

 vor its growth, as well Us prevent the mildew. 

 I was not disappointed : the two acres gave me 

 between four and five tons of straw, and 69 1-2 

 bushels of excellent grain. I had never before 

 gathered more than 15 bushels to the acre. The 

 grass seed sowed with the rye took well, and the 

 appearance at present is favorable for a great bur- 

 den of grass the next season. I have then with 

 one ploughing only taken two crops from this 

 ground and stocked it down to grass. That tbero 

 has been a saving of labor will not be doubted, and 

 that there has been an increased produce from ibis 

 mode of managing greensward, the foregoing (act's 

 sufficiently demonstrated, and that the soil is sub- 

 stantially improved I have no doubt. 



I have this season, ploughed and planted an- 

 other field in the same manner as that above des- 

 cribed, and it promises a good crop. This I in- 

 tend to sow upon the furrow with grass seed 

 alone as soon as the corn is harvested. 



In answer to some of the queries of " Dor- 

 chester," I will state my opinion that the depth 

 of the ploughing should be regulated by the quali- 

 ty of the soil, and the quantity of manure to be ap- 

 plied. The soil should be gradually deepened, by 

 turning up at each successive ploughing, some of 

 the poorer earth, that was not disturbed by the 

 previous ploughing, until a sufficient depth of soil 

 is attained. If a liberal dressing of manure can 

 be afforded, the more poor earth may be brought 

 on the surface to mix with it. 



If it be intended to sow or plant svvard land in 

 the spring, the ploughing should be at as short an 

 interval before putting in the seed as possible. 

 — The greater the growth of the roots and tops 

 of grasses at the time of ploughing, the more 

 perfect will he the fermentation, and the svvard 

 by its increased toughness will be less broken by 

 the plough and harrow. The roller loaded as 

 heavily as may be convi nienlly drawn by one 

 yoke of oxen should follow the plough as soon 

 as may he convenient; this will smooth any uii- 

 evenness ofsurfacc. Set the furrow slices close 

 together, and thereby prevent their being torn up 

 by the hairow, and also prevent the escape of the 

 gases that are thrown out by fermentation. live- 

 ry fanner, who has three acres of ground to till, 

 should have a roller. One made in two parts is 

 much preferable to that made in the usual way. 

 After rolling, barrow with a light harrow — the 

 more the better, provided the sod be hot disturbed. 

 The compost should then be spread on and the 

 ground again harrowed, when it will be ready to 

 receive the seed, either corn or potatoes, or the 

 small grains with or without grass seed, or grass 

 !-ccd alone. 



