42 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Aug. 28, 1829. 



The piircliasers were generally the suns of tlie 

 first eini-^rant.s from Eiigliiiid, that knew but little 

 of fanning or garilcriing. The Redernplioners 

 had heen used lo ilig^'ini; their hving out of small 

 l)iece3 of hmd. The |)urchnsers preferred taking 

 u family, man, wife and children ; and I have 

 heard old nn-n .say that their general character 

 was strictly hone.st, industrious, and inoffensive ; 

 that nine times out of ten they knew the business 

 better than their master. The women were labo- 

 rious, skilful gardeners. Although so poor they 

 had hut little to carry. They always took their 

 bundles of garden seeds that they had brought 

 from Germany and greatly improved gardening, 

 both in quality and a greater variety of vegeta- 

 bles. The great emigration frotn Germany before 

 the French war was the making of Pennsylvania. 

 So far, I have written from history and tradi- 

 tion of what ])asscd before my time. If I write 

 again, it will be facts, and my o^^•n observations, 

 by way of reminiscences of the Gcnnan mode of 

 farming, gardening, saving seeds, ^c. 

 Stockport, Pa., lug. 11, 1829. SAMUEL PESTON. 



inrriie Allowing very valuable communicalioii from an iii- 

 lelli^cnt and (iraciJcal agriculturist, deserves an attentive peru- 

 sal from all who are eng.itfed in agricultural pursuits. Bv 

 the mmie in which stvard land is usually luaua^d, the manure 

 which the turf contains is dissipated — given to llie winds, and 

 dispersed through the atmosplierc, instead of constituting food 

 lor the crops of the owner of the soil. — Ehitor. 



PLOL'GHING GREENSWARD. 

 Mr Enrroa — Your correspondent " Dorches- 

 ter," in No. 1, vol. 8, 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. Coiisiderin 

 the exhausted condition of most of our grounds, 

 and the expense of restoring tliein 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. P>y the usual method of 

 turning up the sward, and then cross ploughing 

 and harrowing, the sods are pushed about by the 

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

 posed to the actioji of the sun and winds, that 

 the nutritive matter contained in the roots and 

 lo])s of the grasses is in a great meastire wasted. 

 By this practice, the vegetable matter which was 

 before upon the surface, is brought there again, 

 and the poorer part of tlio soil, which should 

 remain at the top, whcn-by it would be greatly 



so much beyonilwhat I had calculated, and it satis- 

 fied me of the iieocssity of adopting some plan by 

 which this valuable treasure might be turned lo 

 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 

 pasture land. In the month of .\ugust I turned 

 over the sward as evenly as possible, then rolled 

 with a heavy loaded roller. The ground was 

 then harrowed in the same direction as the fur- 

 rows, with a light horse harrow, and then sowed 

 with buckwheat, with red top and henls gra.ss 

 seed. The bush harrow was then drawn over 

 it, and then rolled again. The harrowing was so 

 light, that the sod was not disturbed. — No manure 

 was used. I had a fair crop of buckwheat. The 

 grass seed took well, and looked so i)romising in 

 the spring following, I concluded to mow it. The 

 crop of hay greatly exceeded my expectations, 

 and, as pasture, 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, 1828, I had 

 two acres of sward land, which had been consid- 

 erably cxhatisted by long cropping, yielding less 

 than a ton of red top and herds grass to the acre, 

 turned over ; having a hand occasionally to follow 

 the plough with a hoe, for the ptni)ose of turning 

 over such parts as the plough had missed. The 

 ploughing was from four to six inches deep, vary- 

 ing according to the ilcpth 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 con- 

 venient pieces, and placed in the vacant space 

 which was left ir the middle of the lot, whereby 

 this space was just filled, and no ridges left on the 

 outside ; the field was then rolled with a heavy 

 roller, and the uneven parts of the sward settled 

 down, and the whole made smooth. It was then 

 harrowed lengthwise the furrows thoroughly with 

 a horse harrow, but so light as not to disturb the 

 sod. Twenty cart loads of coinjiost, made of 

 loam, peat, mud, and stable dung, (a sufficient 

 quantity of the laUer having been mixed to cause 

 the whole mass to ferment.) were then spread 



benefited and enriched by the fertilizing ])roper- upon the acre. It was again harrowed as before 

 tics of the atmosphero, is returned toils original and, from the evenness of the stu'face, the field 

 position beneath. This is exactly the reverse of imd more the appearance of having been tilled 

 what it should be. Let the roots and tops of the for a number of years. On the sixth of May 

 grasses, together with all the vegetable matter on corn was (ilanted upon the fiirrows in drill.*, par- 



nnd near the siirfiice, be buried and retained to 

 ferment and decompose, and the poor earth be 

 brought to anil retained upon the surface, where, 

 by culture and exposure to the atmosphere, it will 

 soon become a body of rich iiioiiM. 



If the result of my own experience will be of 

 any use to your correspon<lcnt, or the public, I 

 give il with pleasure. I nsecrlained by an accu- 

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

 fiiot of sward land, taken from a field which 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 vegetable matter, consisting of the roots and 

 tops of the grn.stics, giving at this rate over twelve 

 and a f|iiarter tons lo the acre. I must confess I 

 was not u little surprised od finding the quantity 



allcl with them, three feet apart, and the corn six 

 inches distant in the row.s, having previotisly 

 marked out the rows, three at a time, with an in- 

 strument made fiir the purpose, by which the 

 work was performed by one hand in less than an 

 hour. The ploughing between the rows and tnc 

 hoeing was done without disltirbing the sod ; and 

 the not only useless, but injurious practice of ridg- 

 ing, or hilling the corn was carcfiilly avoiilnl. 

 The corn at first did not exhibit a very promis- 

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

 tended into the cnri<'hing matter below, anil h( 



than corn which I had planted upon a much bet 

 ter soil, cullivaied in the usual way. M'hen thi 

 ears were filling out, a time when the corn nios 

 requires support, the roots easily penetrated th 

 mellow sod, and an abundance of nourishinei 

 was aff'orded by the decomposing of the vegeta 

 bic matter. The crop was harvested about th 

 middle of Septeinhcr. I did not measure th 

 produce for the purpose of ascertaining exact! 

 the quantity which was gathered, but some of m 

 neighbors who arc good judges, saw the field be 

 fore harvesting, and estimated il at from 70 lo 8 

 bushels to the acre. My usual crop on swar 

 land cultivated in the common way, lias bee 

 from 3.5 to 45 bushels to the acre. As soon r 

 the corn was harvested, the stubble was loosenc 

 up by running a light hor^e plough lenglhwif 

 through the rows, and then the whole smoothe 

 down by a bush Iiarrow drawn crosswise. A 

 this was done without di^turl)lng the sward 

 bushel of winter rye lo the acre, and a sullicici 

 quantity of grass seed, was then sowed, at 

 the ground harrowed with a light harrow ai 

 rolled. Rye has, in my neighborhood, for .sou 

 years past, been a very uncertain crop, — beii 

 almost invariably subject to a Idast, or niilile< 

 which attacks it while in the milk. It has ho^ 

 ever, as is the case everywhere, I believe, wi 

 rye, succeeded better upon a new, than an o 

 soil. This circumslani-e induced me to bePev 

 that the new and fresh earth, which had bei 

 turned up and kept u|)ou the top of my swa 

 land might favor its growth, as well as prcve 

 the mildew. I was not disappointed : tlje tv 

 acres gave me between four and five tons 

 straw, and C9j bushels of excellent grain. 1 h 

 never before gathered more than 15 bushels 

 the acre. The grass seed sowed with the r 

 took well, and the appearance at present is favoi 

 hie for a great burden of grass the next seasc 

 I have then with one ploughing only taken ti 

 crops from this ground, and stocked it down 

 grass. That there has been a saving of lal 

 will not be doubted, and thai there h.-us been 

 increased j)roduce from Ibis mode of nianagi 

 greensward, the- foregoing facts sufficiently i 

 monstrate, and that the soil is substantially i 

 proved I have no doubt. 



I have, this season, ploughed and planted t 

 other field iu the same manner as that above t 

 scribed, and it promises a good crop. This I j 

 tend to sow upon the furrow with grass se 

 alone as soon as the corn is harvested. 



In answer to some of the queries of " Dc 

 CHESTER," 1 will state my opinion that the i]c\ 

 of the ploughing should be regulaleil by the ipu 

 ty of the soil, and quantity of manure to be i 

 plied. The soil should be crradualh/ ilcepencd, 

 turning up, at each successive ploughing, some 

 the |)Oorer earlh, that was not ilisturbeil by t 

 previous ploughing, until a siitficioni depth of a 

 is attained. If a liberal dressing of manure c 

 be alfordcd, the more poor earth may be broii{ 

 on the surface to mix with il. 



If it be intended to sow or plant sward hind 

 tbc spring, the ploughing should be at as sluTt 

 interval before ptitling in ihe seed as pM->il 

 i — The greater the growth of the roots and l< 



gall to expand in the swaril, which Imd now be- of grasses al the time of ploughing, th 



come open and mellow by fermentation, and the 

 pans of soil more minutely divided limn it eotiM 

 liavi" been by the plough or hoc, it assnmnd a 

 hcalihy appearance, and grow inoro vigorously, 



pcrfi'ci will be the fermenlation, and ihe t-wa 

 by ils incrraseil toughness will be less brokin 

 the plough and harrow. The roller, luadcil 

 heavily as may bo conveniently drawn by 



