664 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



The game sorts, and all the small varieties, lay 

 small eggs. 



Flaviir of Eggs. — The finest flavored eirgs are 

 those with bright orange yolks, such as are laid by 

 the game breed, and by speckled varietii^s of the 

 common l)reed. The large eggs of the Poland and 

 Spanish have often pale yolks, and little flavor. 



Color of the Flesh. — Those wilh dark colored 

 or yellow leg.-^, have the llesh of a less pleasing 

 white than those with pale flesh-colored or while 

 lecs. 



Delicacy of the Flesh. — The game breed, the 

 Spanish, and the Dorking, are the most delicate ; 

 the Malay coarse and inierior. 



From tlie Farmers' Series of tlie Library of Useful Knowledge. 



ON THK CONVERSION OF ARABLE LAND TO 

 PERMANENT PASTURE, OR MEADOW. 



All kinds of grass derive their chief value from 

 the quality of the soil on which they are |)roduced ; 

 ibr, whether natural or artificial, they aflord more 

 nutriment when taken from rich land, than the 

 same quantity of a similar sort will when |)rocure(l 

 from ground of a poor nature ; and they are mate- 

 rially influenced by its state of wetness or of dry- 

 ness. Every species sprmgs originally li-om some 

 peculiarearth, which is best adapted to its propatj-a- 

 tion; for although most of them will grow on vari- 

 ous kinds of land, yet they all have their favorite 

 ground, and if translijrred (i-om the soil on which 

 they spontaneously vegetate, to one of a different 

 nature, prepared for them by tilla<re, they lose 

 much of their hardiness and durability. 



It might be supposed, that, as almost every sort 

 of grass can be made to thrive during a short pe- 

 riod on dhferent soils, a remedy for this could be 

 found by sowing only the best class of seeds — and 

 to a certain extent that effect may be obtained ; 

 but experience has proved that it is easier to ac- 

 commodate the plant to the soil, than to adapt the 

 soil to the plant, and all land has such a tendency 

 to reproduce those plants which are indigenous to 

 the soil, that, after a series of years, more or less, 

 according to the care which has been bestowed 

 upon its cultivation, they will supersede those 

 which have been artificially sown. This forms, 

 indeed, one of the strongest reasons why sound 

 old meadow should never be broken up without 

 mature consideration ; lor to reproduce it, is one of 

 the most uncertain operations of husbandry. It 

 is, therefore, evident, that the closer we adhere to 

 those seeds which are natural to the land, the 

 more healthy will the plants be found, and the 

 longer will the herbage retain those properties 

 which are essential to its perfection ; though it 

 certainly may be much improved by a judicious 

 selection of the better kinds, and by sowing only 

 certain quantities of each, according as they are 

 fo'ind to flourish with the most luxuriance, instead 

 of sowing them indiscriminately. 



Kvery one who intends to lay down land to a 

 permanent state of meadow or pasture, should 

 therelbre make himself well acquainted with the 

 best natural grasses, and the peculiar soils to 

 which they are indigenous, as well as with the 

 state of the land in regard to shelter, drought, 

 or humidity, as affecting their growth and dura- 

 bility; and, having become master of these parti- 

 culars, he should then selecL the seeds accordingly, 



either by purchase irom some seedsman whose 

 character may be presumed to guard the buyer 

 from fi-aud, or, if desirous ofobtaitiing them of 

 his own irrowth, he may avail hi. "".self of the di- 

 rections to be found at foot.* 



So far, however, are farmers from generally 

 paying any attention to this sutiject, that when 

 ihey are in want of grass-seeds, they take ihem 

 without any discriminan'on Irom the boitom of 

 their own or their neiifhbor's mow, ivilhoiit consi- 

 dering of what species of grass they are, from 

 what land they have been procured, or whelher 

 they are adapted to the land on which they are 

 intended to be sown ; "il'they are hay-seeds, they 

 nre satisfied. "f This, however, is very-short- 

 sighted economy; for alter land has been got into 

 good condition, lor the purpose of being converted 



* " If a piece of tjround can be had. that is neither 

 very mo'st nor very dry, it will answer for several sorts 

 of seeds, which may be thi>n sown on one spot ; t)ut if 

 such a piece cannot be obtained, tliey niiist be sown on 

 separate spots, according to their rcsprctive quabties, 

 no matter whether in a i^arden, a nursery, or a field, 

 provided it be well secured and clean. Dip; up the 

 ground, level and rake it; then sow each kind of seed 

 thinly in a separate row, each row about a toot apart 

 and cover them over lightly with earth : the latter enc' 

 of August, br the beginning of September, will be thj 

 most proper time for this business. If the weaUier be 

 not uncommonly dry, the seeds will vegetate quickly, 

 and the only attention they will require, will be, to be 

 carefully weeded. In about a Ibrtniglit from their 

 coming up, such of the plants as grow thickly together 

 may be thinned, and those which are taken up, tians- 

 planted, so as to make more rows of the same grass. 



"If the winter should be very severe, tho\igh natives, 

 they may, as seedlings, receive injury ; therefore, it 

 will not be amiss to protect them with mats, fern, or 

 by some other contrivance. 



" Advantage should be taken of the first dry weather 

 in spring, to roll or tread them down, in order to fasten 

 their roots in the earth, which the Irost geneially 

 loosens, and care must still be taken to keep them per- 

 fectly clear from weeds. As the spring advances, 

 many of them will ttirow up their flowering stems, and 

 some of them will continue to do so all the summer. 

 As the seed in each spike or panicle ripens, it must be 

 very carefully gathered, and sown in the autumn, at 

 which time the roots of the original plants, which will 

 now bear separating, should be divided and transplant- 

 ed, so as to form more rows ; the roots of the smooth- 

 stalked meadow grass, in particular, creeping like 

 couch grass, may readily be increased in this way ; 

 and thus, by degrees, a large plantation of these grasses 

 may be formed, and much seed collected at its separate 

 periods of becoming ripe." — Curtis on British Grasses, 

 p. 31. Complete Grazier, 6th edition, p. 4.30. 



Or, a piece of fine old meadow land, that is known 

 to abound in the best sort of grasses, may be saved for 

 seed, by letting it stand a few weeks longer than usual, 

 and thriishing the hay out immediately, without suli'er- 

 ing it to beat in the stack. — Middlesex Rep. 2nd edi- 

 tion, p. 305. — Com. to the Board of Agricul., vol. iii. 

 p. 131. 



An improvement on this latter mcde would, however, 

 be to divide the turf into thiee separate divisions, and 

 to cut the grass from each at those diderent reasons 

 when the plants respectively ripen their seeds, which 

 usually is towards the latter end of June, the end of 

 July, and in the first or second week of September; 

 but great attention should be paid to the complete ripe- 

 ness of the seeds, for if gathered before they are at 

 perfect maturity, they will not produce plants. 



t Holland's Survey of Cheshire, p. 186. 



