1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]VIER. 



379 



and their sleek and contented occupants veri- 

 fied our conclusions. 



Such was not the case, singularly enough, 

 with a large proportion of ^*^te mowing fields. 

 They certainly did not come up to their usual 

 estate in the middle of June. What can be 

 the cause of this ? Is it not an anomaly, that 

 when the p istures are fresh and luxuriant, the 

 mowing fields should look scanty and unprom- 

 ising ? Everywhere, the remark was make by 

 observing persons, that the grass crop would 

 be light. Was it winter killed'} If so, it was 

 in some general and unusual way, for we saw 

 very iavf bare patches, such as usually occur 

 in slight depressions in the field where ice 

 was formed, and winter-killing succeeded. 

 The injury seems to be minute, occuring 

 over a whole field, giving the grass a sparse 

 and weakly appearance. Was it the open win- 

 ter, sweeping winds, or extreme cold ? It is 

 a case sui generis, unique, peculiar of its kind. 

 Will the savants of the agricultural college en- 

 lighten us ? This is our principal New Eng- 

 land crop. We must not let it decrease. If 

 the South has been awakened to its interests, 

 and is cultivating the grass crop, so that its 

 demand upon us will be less than usual, we 

 must feed more good hay to our stock, and 

 let the meadow hay go to cover strawberry 

 plants, pack crockery with, or preserve another 

 valuable New England crop — the ice. We 

 must increase the crops of timothy, red-top, 

 orchard grass, and, especially, the amount of 

 clover, so that we shall not only see the 

 ''Flocks thick nibbling through the clovered vale," 



but find our barns stored with it for winter 

 use. It probably makes the most valuable 

 dry fodder we have, both for horses and cattle. 

 The objection to cultivating it in larger quan- 

 tity, has been in the difficulty of properly cur- 

 ing it. With the use of hay caps, however, 

 and other facilities for securing hay, that dif- 

 ficulty will vanish before enterprising farmers. 

 Those persons who are raising milk for market, 

 will find it greatly to their account to harvest 

 & large portion of their fodder in clover. No 

 other long fodder will produce milk like it, 

 and none is so grateful to the appetite cf neat 

 stock. 



In Flanders, clover is deemed indispensa- 

 ble to profitable farming; and they know 

 there what good farming is. Upon its culti- 

 vation hinges apparently the whole of the far- 



mer's prosperity. Without clover, no man 

 there would pretend to call himself a farmer. 

 In Great Britain, clovers are considered 

 alike indispensable to good farming. Where 

 clover and plaster have been most freely used 

 in our country, the greatest degree of agricul- 

 tural improvement has taken place. Several 

 counties in Pennsylvania have doubled their 

 agricultural products and profits since the in- 

 troduction of clover and gypsum. 



Cavtion against Cutting Grass too Early. 

 — The way that some folks put in practice the 

 recommendations of particular things, or of parti- 

 cular ways of doing things, is often illustrated hy the 

 story of the old Indian, who having heard that feath- 

 ers made a soft bed, laid a single one on a rock and 

 slept on it, and then complained that it was the 

 hardest bed he ever saw. So, lest any one should 

 understand that what we have said in favor of 

 early haying means to cut grass before it is two- 

 thirds grown, we copy the following caution from 

 the Ohio Farmer : — 



Farmers are not usually fooled more than once 

 by following the advice of unskilled but would-be 

 wise advisers, who advocate cutting grass lieforeit 

 is two-thirds grown, but many of them meet with 

 great losses year after year by not being in readi- 

 ness when the proper time for cutting comes, and 

 allowing the crop to get too old and ripe. 



How to Learn — At a recent evening meeting 

 of the members of the Legislature of New Hamp- 

 shire interested in farming, Mr. Joseph B. ^Valker 

 of Concord, in response to the call of the chair- 

 man to explain how he raised the best corn in the 

 State, made some observations on ploughing, ma- 

 nuring, &c., closing with the remark, "for my- 

 self, I have learned more by my blunders than in 

 any other way." 



We commend this remark to those of our corres- 

 pondents who sometimes say, when speaking of 

 some incomplete experitnent, "if it succeeds well, 

 if I have a good crop, or if it turns out as I expect, 

 I will report the result for the benefit of others." 

 Blunders and failures are, in fact, as Mr. Walker 

 says, even more efficient educators than successes, 

 and should be as fully and minutely reported. 



— For tender mouth in horses, a correspondent 

 of the Country Gentleman hss been succe'ssftil in 

 using a chain nose piece. He says, "put a short 

 piece of small chain in front of the horse's nose ; 

 fasten to the head-stall by running through the 

 rinc s at the lower end of the cheek-pieces. Attach 

 your line to the chain, and you are ready for a 

 start. After a day or two remove the bit and 

 grease your horse's mouth and it will soon be well. 

 I used a horse two months without a bit, both sin- 

 gle and double, and found no trouble in guiding 

 him." 



