No. 5. 



Sowing Grass Seeds — George Henry Walker. 



153 



eaten up the cleaner from the trouprh. Try 

 it. Utilitv. 



We perceive the machine is still adver- 

 tised for sale by Mr. I. I. Hitchcoc-k, at 

 Landreth's, G3 Chestnut-street, and at Hirst 

 & Drear's new and eleirant eslablisiiment, 

 No. 97, same street. We are " true believ- 

 ers" in the economy of cutting all long 

 feed for stock, and we constantly hear 

 Green's instrument spoken of in the highest 

 terms of praise by those who have used it. 

 Ed. Far. Cab. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Sowing Grass Seeds. 



It is a bad system to mix seeds of differ- 

 ent plants before sowing them, in order to 

 have fewer casts. It is better to sow each 

 sort separately, as the trouble of going seve- 

 ral times over the ground is nothing com- 

 pared to the benefit of having each sort 

 equally distributed. 



Grass seeds cannot well be sown too plen- 

 tifully, and no economy less deserving the 

 name can possibly exist, than the being 

 sparing of grass seeds. The seeds of grain 

 may easily be sown too thickly, but with 

 respect to those of grass, it is scarcely capa- 

 ble of occurring. Thesmaller the stem, the 

 more acceptable it is to cattle; and when 

 the seeds of some grasses are thinly scat- 

 tered, their stems tend, as it is called, to 

 wood, and the crop is liable to be infested 

 with weeds. Some think that if ground is 

 well manured, good grasses will come in of 

 themselves. Perhaps so; but how long 

 will it be before that happens ] Clean seed, 

 and tliat which is known to be suitable to 

 the soil, should always he sown. For 

 though grasses will gradually come in, no 

 great crop is Lo be expected the first year, 

 unless it be a crop of rank and useless 

 weeds. And he that misses the first year's 

 crop, loses much, as the longer the land lies, 

 the more compact or bound it will become, 

 and produce the smaller crops. 



Every farmer should carefully examine 

 his fields that are coming into grass for next 

 summer's mowing, and carefully note all 

 the bald spots, where, by the lodging of 

 grain or from any other cause, the grass 

 roots have either not taken or been destroy- 

 ed. On all such spots grass seeds should 

 be applied at as early a period in the spring 

 as possible. Failures of this sort generally 

 are found where the soil is strongest, and if 

 grass seed is not resown. there will be an 

 abundant supply of weeds to annoy the 

 careless farmer. 



For Ihfi Farmers' Cabinet 

 Orchard Grass. 

 This grass is worthy of being cultivated 

 on account of its uncommon luxuriance. 

 Horses, cows, and sheep, eat it readily, and 

 it is valuable on account of its excellent 

 after-feed. It affords an abundant crop, 

 springs early, and grows fast, makes excel- 

 lent hay, and yields abundance of seed, 

 which is not easily shaken out. It is a 

 hardy grass, found highly useful in moist 

 loamy soils, and thriving under the shade ot 

 trees. It comes early, is soon mature, and 

 continues green until late in the season, as 

 clover does. If intended for fodder, it should 

 be cut while young and tender. 



Read before the Philadelphia Agricultural 

 Society, Nov. 21, 1838, and ordered to be 

 published in the Farmers' Cabinet. 



George Henry Walker. 



The name of this gentleman, by whose 

 sudden death (which took place at his resi- 

 dence, Longford, in Philadelphia Co., on the 

 7th of Sept. last, in the 50th year of his age) 

 the cause of agricultural improvement has 

 lost a valuable and etficient friend, deserves 

 honorable mention ; and the following brief 

 notice has been suggested as a slight tribute 

 to the memory of an enlightened farmer and 

 most worthy man. 



The pupil of some of the most celebrated 

 agriculturists of the old country, Mr. 

 Walker came hither and settled amongst us 

 about twenty years ago, bringing with him 

 no ordinary degree of intelligence and in- 

 formation concerning his favorite profession. 

 He purchased a farm of about a hundred acres 

 in Philadelphia County, where, notwith- 

 standing the discouragements which always 

 obstruct the progress of agricultural reform, 

 he illustrated the value of those improve- 

 ments which his extensive knowledge and 

 excellent judgment showed him to be de- 

 sirable and necessary. He was the first to 

 call attention to the relations existing be- 

 tween the laws of subsistence, occupation, 

 and production, and to apply them as a prin- 

 ciple, to the improvement of agriculture. 

 He was mainly instrumental in introducing 

 a judicious system of root culture. He de- 

 monstrated the importance of the green-crop 

 system, of a better method of preparing and 

 applying manures, and of an alteration in 

 the rotation of crops. The utility of his 

 improvements was shown by their results, 

 and it may truly be said of him, that 

 he made more than two ears of corn grow 

 where only one grew before. He occasion- 

 ally had under his charge j'oung men of in- 

 telligence and character, who enjoyed the 



