268 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



June 



For the New Knglaiid Farmer. 



SEEDING LAND TO GRASS. 



Mr. Editor : — There are few, if any, opevation.s 

 in husbantlrj of more importance to the farmer 

 than tJuit of seeding land to grass. Nor are there 

 many operations concerning the mode of perform- 

 ing which, there is more variance of opinion. 

 Some favoring spring, others fall seeding ; some 

 contending for heavy seeding, others for light. So 

 important and oft recurring is this operation of 

 the form, that it would seem strange that the best 

 mode has not long since been decided, beyond all 

 controversy. The purchase of grass seeds is quite 

 an item of money expense ; its failure to produce 

 its desired return is followed by a still heavier loss 

 in the time and labor expended in applying it to 

 the soil, and the season's crop of grass. 



The practice of seeding in the spring, Avith some 

 kind of grain, generally oats, is, I believe, too haz- 

 ardous and uncertain. Every farmer knows full 

 well that one of the greatest obstacles with which 

 he has to contend in New England is ^]-ougfii. 

 That his grain with which he seeds in the spring 

 is ready for harvest at a season when drought is 

 most likely to ensue. That during the growth of 

 the grain, the blades of grass are kept from mak- 

 ing much if any progress ; the shade of the grain 

 rendering them weak and tender. That the remov- 

 al of the grain at once exposes these feelile plants 

 to the scorching rays of an almost vertical sun, 

 which withers and burn them up beyond recovery. 

 The greater portion of these plants are so small at 

 the time of harvesting the grain, that they escape 

 the too often casual observation of the farmer, and 

 when the sun has burned them up, he concludes 

 the seed was worthless, and forthwith blames the 

 seedsman for the failure of his crop. Many thou- 

 sands of dollars are thus annually lost in Massa- 

 chusetts alone. I have tried this mode of seeding, 

 and am satisfied that it is altogether too hazardous 

 an operation to be tried the second time. Fall 

 seeding, too, if left undone later than the first of 

 September, is also dangerous, both from early and 

 late freezing and thawing of the ground, which 

 destroys the plant in its weak and feeble hold up- 

 on the soil. Summer seeding at the last hoeing 

 of corn is in favor with many farmers, but tliis 

 method of seeding, has always appeared to me, to 

 be a slovenly moide of farming — perhaps not neces- 

 sarily so, if sufficient pains were taken to keep 

 the ground level, and to cut up the corn below 

 the surface, which is seldom done. 



Last season I determined to seed down in August 

 having taken a crop of oats from the 1 md, it hav 

 ing been planted two years Avith corn ; having 

 harvested the oats which stood a few days longer 

 than was desirable, I carted on ten ox cart loads 

 of good barn-yard compost to the acre, plowed it 

 in, harrowed and sowed licrds grass, red top and 

 clover. In a few days the land was well covered 

 with a second crop of oats from the seed scattered 

 in the process of harvesting, the grass came up 

 finely and the field presented a very beautiful ap- 

 pearance. By the first of October the oats had 

 got up a foot high. I turned my milch cows in for 

 one hour a day at first, and when partly fed off, 

 prolonged their stay to two hours. Such a field 

 of green fodder, at such a time, proved a valua- 

 ble acquisition. The grass continued to thrive,and 

 now presents a very promising appearance. The 



oat stubble left in the fall, has, I believe, been 

 no unimportant protection to the young grass 

 roots through a hard winter. 



So highly satisfactory was this operation, that I 

 shall pursue it again this season — sowing about 

 two bushels of oats to the acre with my grass 

 seed. The advantages, I deem to bo three-fold. 

 First, if your seed is good, you will be sure of not 

 losing it by drought or early frosts ; secondly, it 

 afibrds an economical opportunity of applying a 

 little fresh food for the support of 3'our future 

 crops, thus laying the land to grass in such good 

 heart, that if it has l>een dealt with properly in 

 its previous cultivation, it will need no top-dress- 

 ing (which in my humble judgment is a most ex- 

 travagant expenditure of manure, except upon 

 low, wet lands) until it is again taken up for cul- 

 tivation. And, lastly, it gives you a fine crop 

 of green fodder at a season when it is greatly 

 needed. t. a. s. 



Wesibo}'o\ April, 1854. 



Remarks. — The subject discussed above, is an 

 important one, and we think suggestions may be 

 found in this article worthy of careful considera- 

 tion, as great losses are annually experienced in 

 laying down lauds to grass. 



For the Ifew England Farmer. 



EXPEaiMENTS, STOCK, CORN, &c. 



jMr. Brown : — The assignment of subjects for 

 experiments by the Concord Club, as presented in 

 your paper this morning, is admirable. Let each 

 of those who engage in these expci'iments, make 

 an exact minute of their operations, at the time ; 

 and let the committee who assigned the subjects, 

 have an eye to the several parcels under cultiva- 

 tion, at least once a month ; and a mass of infor- 

 mation will accumulate, of more value than is 

 ordinarily presented in the report of any of our 

 societies. 



The butter products of your neighbor's Devon 

 stock should no longer be questioned — since it 

 appears that Mr. Ilobart's native stock has done 

 twelve per cent, better than his, on ordinary feed, 

 alone. Farmers should learn from these, and other 

 facts recently given to the public, that hy proper 

 care, in selecting cows for the making of butter, 

 that double the quantity of butter can be o1)*ained 

 from the same quantity of milk, and generally, I 

 believe, the less the quantity of milk from which 

 the cream arises, the better the quality of the 

 butter. 



The well drawn statement of the farmer of Pel- 

 ham shows that there is a profit in growing In- 

 dian corn, at fifty bushels per acre. If the yield 

 is double this, as has been the present season, by 

 several cultivators in the County of Norfolk, one 

 rising as high as 129 bushels to the acre — it proves, 

 that corn is not only one of the most useful, but 

 one of the most profitable crops, that can be grown. 

 A careful analysis of these statements will show 

 that where the hills were about two feet apart, 

 ibur stalks in a hill, or one stalk to each square 

 fnut of land, the largest product was grown. Some 

 excellent suggestions on the growing of Indian 

 corn have recently appeared from the "model 

 farmer" of Pembroke, and the "sound practical 

 farmer" of Warner. There can be little hazard 



