836 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



July 



THE QRA.SS. 



The grass, the grass, the beautiful graee, 



That brightens this land of ours, 

 Oh, wiiy do we rudely let it pass, 



And only praise the flowers ? 

 The blossoms of spring small joys would bring, 



Aud the summer bloom look sad. 

 Were the earth not green, and the distant scene 

 In its emerald robe not clad 

 Then sing the grass, the beautiful grass, 



That brightens this land of ours; 

 For there is not a blade by nature made 

 Less perfect than the flowers. 



The grass, the grass, the feathery grass. 



That waves in the summer wind. 

 That stays when the flowers all fade and pass. 



Like a dear old friend, bfchind ; 

 That clothes the hills, and the valley fills. 

 When the trees are stripptd and bare; 

 Oh, the land would be like a wintry sea 

 Did the grass not lirger there ; 

 Then sing the grass, the bonny green grass. 



That to all such a charm can lend; 

 For 'tis staunch and true the whole year through, 

 And to all a faithful friend. 



The grass, the grass, the bountiful grass, 



Oh, well may the gift endure. 

 That never was meant for creed or class. 



But grows for both rich and poor ; 

 Long may the lard be great and grand 



Where the emerald turf is spread; 

 May tlij bright green grass, when frona earth we pass. 

 Lie lightly o'er each head. 

 Then sing the grass, the bountiful grsss, 



That stays like a dear old friend ; 

 For, whatever our fates, it kindly waits, 

 Aud it serves us to the end. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SEEDING LAND. 



The following abstract ofi the discussion by the Iras- 

 burg, Vt., Farmers' Club of the subject of the proper 

 quantity of grain and grass seed per acre, and the 

 best manner of putting it in, is furnished for our col- 

 umns by the Secretary, Z. E. Jameson, Esq. 



J. B. Fassett said he had raised but little 

 •wheat, but usually sowed one bushels and 

 three pecks per acre. Of oats some sow two 

 and some ten bushels per acre. He tried a 

 piece by sowing three bushels per acre over 

 the whole, then on one side of the dead fur- 

 row he sowed as much more — equal to six 

 bushels per acre. The part double seeded 

 was thicker at first, but at harvesting be could 

 see no difference, and thought there was none 

 between the two sides. He now sows from 

 three to five bushels. In planting potatoes 

 this year, ten bushels cut fine did not suffice 

 for an acre, with hills two by three feet apart. 

 He has a piece in grass on which he sowed 

 sixteen (quarts timothy, and three poimds clover 

 per acre, and he is satisfied with th(* appear- 

 ance of the grass. He thinks too much clover 

 is often sown as it is a short lived crop, — the 

 second and third yield being small. He had 

 a piece so stout one year, that it took three 

 men half a day to mow an acre ; the next year 

 there was not ten cwt. per acre. He sows his 

 grass seed when he does his grain, and har- 

 rows it the same. When grass seed is only 

 bushed in it may come up, but if we have a 

 dry season it will wither ; but cover it deeper 

 and it will stand drought as well as grain. 



Grain should be harrowed thoroughly, so as 

 to cover it deeply. In planting corn he takes 

 pains to have the rows very straight, — not 

 varying over three inches from a line in twenty- 

 five rods. Thus planted it looks better and 

 is more convenient to cultivate and hoe. *He 

 cuts stakes just as long as he wants the dis- 

 tance between the rows, and sets them in line 

 for the first row. Then, as he plants, he goes 

 straight toward his stakes, and as he comes to 

 one he pulls it up, and sticks it in again just 

 its length from where it first stood, so that 

 when he gets through with one row his stakes 

 are all in line for another row. He covers 

 deep and scatters the kernels so that the stalks 

 will be a few inches apart. If the roots are 

 close together, the stalks lean apart and break 

 down. 



E. P. Church would put more seed upon 

 rich land than upon poor. Thick seeding 

 will cause the straw to be finer, and the grain 

 will ripen earlier and evener. A poor soil 

 cannot nourish a large crop. On dry ground 

 more seed is necessary, as some is so near the 

 surface that it fails to grow. He would har- 

 row thoroughly, though it required more time. 

 He used sixteen bushels of common potatoes 

 in planting an acre with hills two by three feet. 



N. H. Stiles said a neighbor sowed ten 

 bushels of oats on an acre, with the expecta- 

 tion of one hundred bushels, but had a poor 

 crop, the straw being fine and the heads short. 

 Another man sowed seventy rods with oats 

 that had been injured by heating, and prob- 

 ably not more than half a bushel grew. It 

 was on new land and the yield was sixty-two 

 bushels. 



G. B. Brewster spoke of the importance of 

 the proper preparation of the soil. His com 

 ground was ploughed last fall, but this spring 

 he couldn't do a thing with a common harrow. 

 He then took a cultivator that he uses in hoe- 

 ing corn and hops and went over the piece till 

 it was mellow. 



J. B. Fassett sows grass seed with those 

 kinds of grain that occupy the least ground, 

 or better still with no grain. It is quite a loss 

 to sow costly ^ed on land that is not suffi- 

 ciently enrichea and properly prepared to 

 produce a crop. We ought to raise our seed. 



Wm. L. Jameson agreed with I\Ir. F. that 

 we should raise our own seed. By buying 

 seed he got a bad weed upon his farm. Clover 

 lasts well with him ; has a piece in clover four 

 years. He believes in heavy seeding. The 

 man who cleared up Mr. Fassett's pasture 

 sowed half a bushel of clover and timothy 

 seed, and the result was an excellent pasture 

 turf. He prefers to sow grass seed with bar- 

 ley, r)'e, or wheat, rather than with oats or 

 India wheat, although he had had a good catch 

 with the last grain. 



Z. E. Jameson suggested the danger of go- 

 ing to extremes in the amount of seeding, and 

 ai-ked if one reason of the rank growth of 

 grass around stones and logs might not be 



