326 



THE farmers' cabinet 



VOL. I. 



results. Those who lliink the plan worth 

 any attention, may easily make an experiment 

 with an acre or two, and note carefully its 

 progress through the summer. If they are sat- 

 isfied, after the trial, that there is any tiling 

 in it, to extend the operation will not be a 

 difficult matter. 



If, on experiment, it should be found advis- 

 able to extend the operation, the proper way 

 would be I think, to collect the leaves in the 

 winter, and deposite them in heaps on the 

 ground on which they are to be used, and 

 the next spring, during a wet season, after 

 the corn is up, spread them, taking care to 

 leave the tops of the young corn uncovered. 



There is one very important result that 

 must follow the success of this plan on a 

 large scale — and it was with an eye cliiefly 

 to that result, that my experiment was under- 

 taken. The constant excuse for not improving 

 land, is that where cotton is grown, the time 

 necessary, first to cultivate the growing crop 

 properly — next to gather it, and then to pre- 

 pare for a new crop, leaves the planter no 

 time to collect manure. My plan will put 

 an end to that excuse at once ; for wherever 

 leaves are to be had, half the time usually 

 bestowed on working the corn crop in the 

 usual way, spent in gathering leaves and 

 putting them on the ground, instead of plough- 

 ing it, may in a short time, accomplish 

 every thing that can be desired in the way of 

 manuring. 



Why may not the same process answer in 

 the cultivation of cotton 7 If it keeps the 

 ground soft and moist, and prevents the growth 

 of grass and weeds in a corn crop, it will 

 surely have the same effect with cotton — and 

 be the means, further, of preserving the cotton 

 when the bolls open, from all the injury it 

 sustains from the soil in wet seasons. This 

 is, however, but speculation. Let it be tested 

 by actual experiment, 



James Camak. 



FarsHers' Work. 



Pasturing Stock. — Do not turn your cat- 

 tle to grass too early in the spring. Dr. 

 Deane was of opinion that the 20th of May, 

 was, in our climate, quite early enough to 

 permit cattle to go to pasture ; and some 

 farmers think it best to keep working oxen 

 and horses to hay, &c. at least to the first of 

 June. It is not right to turn all sorts of cat- 

 tle into pasture together. Milch cows, vvork- 

 injT oxen and fatting beasts should have the 

 first feedmg of an inclosure. Afterwards 

 sheep and horses. When the first has been 

 fed off, it should be shut up, and the manure 

 which has been dropped sliould be beaten to 

 pieces, and well .'icattered. Afterwards the 

 second pasture should be treated in the same 



manner, and the rest in course, feeding the 

 wettest pasture after the driest, that the soil 

 may not be too much broken up by the cat- 

 ties' feet. 



Dr. Deane observed, that " something con- 

 siderable is saved by letting all sorts of graz- 

 ing animals take their turns in a pasture. — 

 ]}y means of this, nearly all the herbage pro- 

 duced will be eaten ; much of which would 

 otherwise be lost. Horses will eat the leav- 

 ings of horned cattle : and sheep will eat 

 some things that both the one and the other 

 leave. 



" Let the stock of a farmer be greater or 

 less, he should have at least four inclosures of 

 pasture land. One enclosure may be fed two 

 weeks and then shut up to grow. Each one 

 will recruit well in six weeks ; and each will 

 have this time to recruit. But in the latter 

 part of October, the cattle may range through 

 all the lots unless some one may become too 

 wet and soft. Feeding pastures in rotation is 

 of greater advantage than some are apt to 

 imagine. One acre, managed according to 

 the above directions, will turn to better ac- 

 count some say who have practised it, than 

 three acres in the common way." 



An English writer says, in turning out 

 horses to grass in the spring, it is usual to 

 choose the forenoon of a fine day to do it in ; 

 the natural consequence is, the horse fills his 

 belly during the sunshine and lies down to 

 rest during the cold of the night, thereby 

 probably exposing himself to disorders. In 

 some parts of Yorkshire, a better practice 

 prevails; the horse is turned out at bed-time ; 

 the consequence is, he eats all night, and 

 sleeps in the sunshine of the next day." 



It will not be proper, when you have turned 

 your cattle to grass, to overlook or neglect 

 them. You should see every animal every 

 day, if you rise an hour before the sun for 

 that purpose. 



The bottom of an old hay stack is said to 

 be excellent manure for pasture land, as be- 

 sides the nourishment it affords, it contains a 

 quantity of grass seed, which furnishes a new 

 set of plants. It should never be suflered to 

 mix with manure for grain, or corn lands, as 

 it will cause them to be overrun with grass 

 and other plants, which though useful in a pas- 

 ture, are weeds in arable land. 



Import ancc of Dcstrojimg "Weeds. 



The abundance in which weeds are seen 

 in some fields, show conclusively that but 

 little of the mischief caused by them is un- 

 derstood. Weeds are injurious to the land 

 and to tlie crop in almost e\ery possible way 

 that they can be. In the first place they ex- 

 haust the soil to support their own useless 

 growth, and abstract that nourishment from 



