242 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Feb. 16, 1S31. 



them ourselves, and as cheaply as she will ; as 

 shall be seen below. 



The American consumption requires the equiv- 

 alent of 22 millions of barrels of flour; the for- 

 eign demand takes less than 900,000. The do- 

 mestic demand is settled ; the foreign, small as it 

 is, unsteady. In 1817, the value of all the vege- 

 table food e.vported, was $22,594,000: in 1829, 

 only 9,079,762. The much complained of fluc- 

 tuations in the value of cotton, present nothing 

 like this. The foreign flour tnide cannot, at any 

 time, be depended on. We have exported more 

 than 300,000 barrels to Cuba and Hayti in one 

 year, and in another 90,000. We have sent 

 several hundred thousand to England in one year, 

 and not a barrel, as it were, in the ensuing one. 

 To this wretched uncertainty, with our continual 

 gaping at things abroad, instead of attending to 

 things at home, we are indebted for three-fourths 

 of the perplexities, or embarrassments, which the 

 farmers of the United States have suffered, as 

 must appear manifest to every reflecting mind. — 

 As it regardsybreig'rt trade, we are 



Pleas'd with a rattle— tickl ed with a straw. 

 [To be continued.] • 



GRAFTING. 



MrFessenden — In your paper of Dec. 31, a 

 new mode of grafting is described, which is said 

 to be an improvement. I desire also to show you 

 another new mode of performing this operation, 

 which may prove equally valuable. 



When trees begin to show their fruit, (no matter 

 what kinil) and itis made evident that grafting 

 must be resorted to, or we must patiently put up 

 with an inferior kind ; instead of cutting oft" the 

 top, uncover the roots and choosing the most 

 thrifty one, make a slit in the bark, cut your scion 

 off with a slope, and thrust it in aud cover the 

 roots with earth. It will take well, and grow some 

 the first year, much more the nest, ami the third 

 year the old stock may be cut away, and the 

 growth from that time on will be very rapid, and 

 soon form a ^ood bearing tree. Calvin. 



Preston, Ohio, Jan^ 23, 1831. 



GRASSES. 



Letter from Hon. Jolin Lowell, lo llie Trustees of tlie Miissicliu- 

 setts Society for tlie fromotion of Agric 



the extensive meadows on the Charles River, the , creeping roots soon fill the ground, the sod be 

 fowl meadow grass. If this truly Yankee grass : comes bound, and requires breaking up every fe^ 

 could be translated to all the meadow bottoms, the ' years. 



naturally moist, cold, half pealy lands of New I 1 have thus given a true character of all ou 

 England, their produce would be at least doubled. I favorite grasses— not from theory but from 25 year; 

 It is difficult to i)rocure its seed. It is not for close experience and observation 



sale in sufficient quantities ; whether from its 

 ripening with difficulty or from whatever catises, 

 itis not always a certain producer; but ^till its 

 value is beyond all calculation. Low meadows 

 are chiefly furnished with the different species of 

 carex, a coarse, sharp, worthless grass, on which 

 no animals but those which are nearly fainished 



If there were no other grasses than these in ex 

 istence, or none better, we ought to be thankfi: 

 for what we have, and endeavor to make the mos 

 of them. Butisthis so? No, it is not so. Au 

 we are the only people who make any pretension 

 to knowledge, who confine themselves to a catai, 

 logue or list of grasses so small, and of so douhtit 



will feed, and on which those who do feed con- ful comparative value. 



stantly decline. We have then one species of Let us first examine the practice of the first ag|( 



grass not usually cultivated, which is of inestima- 

 ble value. It is no idle speculation, but sober fact, 

 and uidessa defender of ignorance will maintain, of soil, in 

 that the fowl tneadow grass can oidy floin-ish in the 

 DedhaiTl meadows, our agriculture has much to 

 gain by the active, earnest, assiduous propagation 

 of this grass. 



I have cited this solitary case, merely to gain 

 a patient hearing. Of our three favorite grasses, 

 the herdsgrass or timothy is in very bad repute in 

 Europe. They consider it a very coarse and not a 

 very nutritious grass. It is not extensively culti- 

 vated in any part of Euro|ie on tliis account. 



I am, however, disposed to admit, that it is with 

 us highly valuable — but its value is limited by the 

 following conditions : On low lands, or highly ml 

 tivated grounds, it yields a great and a steady crow. 

 It is less liable to lodge than any other grass. I 

 falls in with our too careless habits of cultivation. 



ricidtural nation of Europe — the nation whici 

 produces the greatest amoimt of food, for its exten 

 Europe. (We know loo little o 

 China to say whether its productions do or do no \ 

 exceed those of Great Britain.) In laying dowi 

 n meadow, as they term it, which does not meal 

 tis with us, wet land, but mowing land, it is thei 

 practice to sow from six to ten different varieties o 

 grass. And this practice is founded on souniK 

 philosophy, which means no more than the resul |i 

 of intelligent experience. It is founded on thii II 

 well known fact, that every species of soil, am f 

 more^especially rich soiJs, will give noiirishmen p 

 to many varieties of plants, each acqtiiringa dif- 1 

 ferent species of food, the whole afrgrcgate O! > 

 whose productions will he much greater than il " 

 the same soil was sown with one species of plant! * 

 only. This will not appear extraordiiinry to thosf 'i 

 who have been accustomed to the extensive culti- ;i 



because it may be cut in the month of June, or it ivatirn of exotic plants — while one class of ])IanB 

 will stand till August, at which last period it will he Cacttis tribe for example, will flourish best in 

 be of about as much value as straw, though even Isand, and gravel, and brick dust — another in ptirt • 



then it will have a bright, and beautiful appearance 

 and be saleable. It is admirably adapted to inn 

 holders, and livery stable keepers, because it weat* 

 well. The youngest horses will find their powcs 

 of mastication sufficiently taxed in consnminga 

 rack full of it in a night, and it will take nealy 

 the tohole night to effect this. In dry land, it sron 



peat — another in pure sand ; others require the i 

 richest comjiosts, pure humus, or the finest vegeta- ' 

 ble soil. If you give to the plants which prefei 

 a poor silicious soil, or peat, rich earth, they a) |; 

 once lose their health, and become rotten at the 

 root and i)ensh. This is in exact conformity to I 

 that wise, intelligent and beneficent system by ! 



I crop. I believe all these |)ropositions to be tiue. 

 I The red clover is never used in Europe, as we 

 ' connnouly use it. It is almost always employed as 

 Will you permit an associate, who has for 25 a green crop — as a succession croji to be fed down 

 years been connected with you, but who from by various animals, and then turned under f.s a 

 ill health has been compelled to withdraw j [)reparation for wheat. Indeed, as a hay crop it 

 himself from your society, and labors, to make ' must be admitted to be of very small value. As 



runs out, and in all grounds it gives very little ater whirli the whole universe is governeil. Without ' 



few remarks on a subject of great interest 

 to the cause of agriculture ? Tlie topic which I 

 propose to discuss, is the cultivation of the various 

 kinds of vegetable productions which we comprise 

 uuder the name of grasses. I understand by this 

 term, all those vegetables, which are consumed by 

 domestic animals, as food in pastures, or as hay. 



There certainly is no subject tnore important to 

 those parts of our country which depend on rais- 

 ing, and fatting domestic animals of the useful 

 classes, the ox, the horse, and the sheep. 



I know very well, that I shall be met at the out- 

 set, by the reply of practical farmers, that we are 

 not to be instructed on this subject. We know 

 better than any theoretical farmer can know, what 

 is best' suited to our soils — we have herdsgrass, 

 and clover, (white and red,) and red top, and we 

 want no more. They are better for us that) any 

 of your outlandish grasses. Wait, gentlemen, I 

 reply ; there is one Yankee grass un.known to 

 nia,m) of you, but well known to the owner of 



we seldom use it in New England, as it is used in 

 Europe and in the Southern States, I must consi- 

 der it as a very inferior grass, for us. Its duration 

 being so short, (for it only lives two years in any 

 case) is a very serious objection to it. We are 

 often deceived in this respect, because its heads 

 ripen in succession, and new plants are always 

 springing up in our grounds, and we do not per- 

 ceive what is certainly true, that no clover plant 

 ever reaches its third year. 



entering into the inexplicable laws, which govern i 

 the vegetable kingdont, as well as the animal, we I 

 may content ourselves witli ihe fact ; and the only I 

 question with which we need trouble ourselves is, I 

 whether the fact be so or not It is certain that 

 he experience of the English farmer has been in I 

 avor of this great mixture of seeds ; I can only ! 

 idd in favor of this theoretical, if it may be 80 

 ailed, doctrine, this fact, that a rich natural inead- 

 'VV, which has never been broken up for fortyfive 

 ears, and as I believe,for 200 years, I have count- 

 ed fifteen species of natural gras.'se.s, all flourishing 

 vithout apparent interference, anil none appear- 

 ng to disturb the growth, or even luxuriance of 

 )ther!5. 



Having made these preliminary remarks, I shall 

 say something of such grasses as are cultivated 



As to the red top, by which I imderstand the poa'm Europe, aud of which 1 have made a fair trial. 

 pralensis most common English gra.ss of ourl beg it to be fully understood, that I speak only 

 meadows, our pastures aud our lawns, it is imques-nf my own experiments, though I shall take no- 

 tionably the best gift of Providence, to pasturing 'ice briefly of the experiments of others, which 



lave coiTie to my knowledge. 



The orchard grass, dactylis s^lmnerata, is one of 

 he grasses frequently sown in Great Britain, though 

 cannot find that itis used on the continent of 

 'jurope. It has been growing into favor in this 

 ountry, and gradually taking the place of lierds- 

 rass, or timothy. It has been successfiilly culli- 



or grazing countries. It it perennial. It has 

 creeping roots. It will come in spite of all your 

 efforts, and if it were not for its natural enemy, 

 the couch grass, it would in ten years overcome all 

 other grasses. It makes admirable hay — the very 

 best of hay for all sorts of cattle. But its defects 

 are, that its crop is light at all times, and as its 



