1854. 



m:W ENGLAND FARMER. 



425 



its way th rough the gum. If it is so, two incisions 

 across each other should be made on the tooth, and 

 the horse will experience immediate relief." 



In lancing the gum, for a coming tooth, it is 

 much better to nick the gum at the side, rather 

 than upon the edge above the advancing tooth. 

 This is practised with young children, by most 

 physicians. Any one tvoul)led with a tender and 

 swollen instep can comprehend the rationale of this. 

 If he cuts his boot upon the point of pressure, he 

 finds the foot puffing up moi'e and more ; but when 

 he makes a few incisions on either side of the boot, 

 near the sole, the pressure ceases and his instep is 

 at once relieved. — Practical Farmer. 



PASTUKE LANDS-DIFFERENT 

 GRASSES, 



The months of August and September usually 

 offer opportunities to the farmer to make substan- 

 tial improvements in his fences, drains, meadows, 

 pastures, clearing fields of stones and brush, and 

 supplying water for all the purposes for which it 

 is desired. But there is nothing among them all 

 that enhances the value of the farm more than a 

 good pasture. 



Every farmer should be a stock-raiser, so far, at 

 least, as the circvimstances under which he exists 

 will admit, as it is only by this means that he can 

 sustain the fertility of his fields, and realize re 

 munerating crops from his arable lands through 

 a succession of years. By consuming the hay and 

 grain of the homestead on the premises, a large 

 quantity of valuable manure will be accumulated, 

 whereas the selling off the products, and their 

 consumption remote from the premises — unless 

 their place be supplied by extraneous matters, will 

 tend directly to impoverish the fieldsi, and render 

 the labors of the husbandman unprofitable and 

 irksome in the extreme. 



In the management of pasture grounds great 

 care should he taken to keep down bushes, weeds, 

 and indeed every species of spurious vegetation by 

 which lands devoted to this purpose are so fre- 

 quently infested and overrun. 



The fern and the brake, as well as many peren- 

 nial plants, find a ready footing and ample aliment 

 in most pasture lands, and should be exterminated 



at once. 



By permitting them to vegetate and spread un- 

 molested, not only arc the vegetable resources of 

 the soil esicntially diminished, but toleration af- 

 fords time for a more general dissemination of the 

 pests, and renders the labor of eradication fiir 

 more onerous and perplexing when it is attempt- 

 ed. Fern may be easily destroyed in the spring 

 when the surface of the soil has just commenced 

 thawing, by means of a heavy hoe formed in the 

 shape of an adze, with a wide sharp bit, and sub- 

 stantial helve. With an instrument of this des- 

 cription an industrious man Avill go over a large 

 area in a short time, unless the bushes be very 

 dense, and perform the work of extirpation in a 



manner at once thorough and effectual. Other 

 bushes of a similar description may also be erad- 

 icated in the same way. 



In stocking down pasture lands, there should 

 be a mixture of seeds, and a most liberal quanti- 

 ty ; it is poor policy to sow but one sort. By 

 having a variety of grasses, we secure a much 

 greater amount of fodder than where we sow but 

 one kind. Where sheep and cows, oxen and 

 horses are permitted to run together, this method 

 will be found especially beneficial. We are often 

 surprised by the neglect manifested by some stock- 

 raisers in the management of their pasture lands. 

 No section of the farm should i-eceive more syste- 

 matic and careful attention. If the ground is low 

 and wet, it should be drained, and the native grass- 

 es which are commonly found vegetating with 

 great luxuriance in such soils, and Avhich are 

 nearly worthless, supplanted l)y more nutritious 

 and valuable kinds. 



The improvement of low ground pastures is a 

 matter which has already awakened the attention 

 of some of our farmers, and will in time produce 

 valuable results. 



On this subject we find some excellent practical 

 remarks in an Address by A. D. Dickinson, before 

 the Tioga Co. (Pa.) Ag. Society. 



"The red clover is the only kind of grass the 

 wheat grower should cultivate, and that is the 

 very kind the grazier docs not want except to sow 

 mixed with his blue grass, timothy and red top. 

 All these are slow to start and mature while the 

 clover starts quick and protects not only the soil, 

 but the other grasses until they mature and spread, 

 and run out the clover. But one word on the im- 

 portance of having all the different kinds of good 

 grasses mixed which grow well on your soil. We 

 all know when any kind is green and fresh, cattle 

 do much better than when ripe and dried up. 

 The kinds I have named come forward in order. , 

 Timothy is first and blue grass last to mature, and 

 by having these mixtures you have fresh pasture 

 through the season. One word on the subject of 

 preparing your field for sowing the grass seed. 

 Though ordinarily you have not much trouble in 

 this respect, in this immediate vicinity, there are 

 occasionally some fields or parts of fields which do 

 not catch. The remedy lor all this is, on your 

 dry land where your seed would not be so likely 

 to grow, have your soil well prepared early in the 

 spring, and sow it with spring rye. On the first 

 dragging let a man follow the drag with four 

 quarts to the acre,of each kind of seed, timothy, red 

 clover, and red top. Thcii cross sow it Avith two 

 quarts each, of white clover and blue grass, rolled 

 in plaster ; then drag it all in well. Then jjut on 

 a good heavy roller ; and a failure will never hap- 

 pen if the seed is good. Sow one bushel of plas- 

 ter to the acre when the rye is a few inches high. 

 This course is only necessary in extreme cases. 

 The reason that rye is better to seed after than any 

 other crops that I have tried is, it grows tall and 

 without leaves, at the bottom, while oats and 

 other spring crops grow thick at the bottom and 

 smother the young grass." 



