NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



95 



Dactylis Glomerata, (Round Cocksfoot, or Or- 

 chard grass.) 



Festuca Pratense, (Meadow Fescue.) 



Phleum Pratense, (Meadow Catstail or Herds 



grass.) 



AnthoxanthvimOdoratum, (Sweet Vernal grass.) 

 Holcus Avenaccus, (Tall Oat-like soft grass.) 

 Lolium Pereune, (Rye grass.) 

 Bromus Arvensis, (Field Brome grass.) 

 Poa Annua, (Annual Meadow grass.) 

 Avena Pratense, (Meadow Oat grass.) 

 These afford the principal part of the spring and 

 also a considerable portion of the summer produce. 

 Avena Flavescens, (Yellow Oat grass.) 

 Cynosurus Cristatus, (Crested Dog's tail grass.) 

 Festuca Duriuscula, (Hard Fescue grass.) 

 Poa Trivialis, (Rough Stalked Meadow grass.) 

 Poa Pratensis, (Smoothed Stalked Meadow 

 grass.) 



Trifolium Pratense Perenne, (Perennial Red 

 Clover.) 



Trifolium Repens, (White Clover.) 

 Festuca Glabra, (Smooth Fescue grass.) 

 These yield the principal productive pasture dur- 

 ing summer and early part of autumn. 

 Achillea Millefolium, (Yarrow.) 

 Agrostis Stolonefera, (Creeping Bent grass.) 

 Agrostis Palustris, (Marsh Bent grass.) 

 Triticum Repens, (Creeping Wheat grass.) 

 Lotus Major, (Birdsfoot Trefoil.) 

 Medicago Lupulina, (Black Medick, or Non- 

 such.) 



These vegetate witli most vigor in autumn. 

 From the beginning of spring till the end of au- 

 tumn, there is not a month but what constitutes the 

 particular season of luxuriance of one or more of 

 these grasses, and hence proceeds the constant sup- 

 ply of succulent and nutritious herbage throughout 

 the whole of the season; a circumstance which 

 never happens in artificial pastures where the her- 

 . bage consists of two or three kinds of grasses only. 

 But besides these, there are, as I have said, va- 

 rious other plants, which are generally left untouch- 

 ed by the animals, so long as the herbage is good 

 and abundant; but when the more palatable her- 

 bage becomes scanty and bare, they eat from neces- 

 sity many plants which they would not eat from 

 choice. And when the culms of the ripened grass- 

 es are all hard and dry, they eagerly devour any- 

 thing that is succulent, though such plants are fre- 

 quently productive of disease. 



Respectfully yours, L. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COLORS IN PAINTING HOUSES. 



S. AV. Cole, Esq.: — Dear Sir, — Trusting you 

 will forgive an humble friend and subscriber for 

 taxing your patience and good humor, by address- 

 ing a few lines to you, which may not be put to- 

 gether in as readable a form as is desirable, I take 

 the liberty so to do. 



My object in wiiting at this time is to enter my 

 protest against the custom of painting houses black, 

 brown, yellow, or any of the other thousand and 

 one unsightly colors which have become so fash- 

 ionable in the vicinity of Boston witliin a few years 

 The prevalence of this custom betokens — not only 

 in my humble opinion, but, I doubt not, in the opin- 

 ion of a large number of your readers, — a lamenta- 

 ble want of good taste in the owners of many of our 



cottages, country seats, &c., which otherwise 

 would tend to beautify the hill-sides, plains and val- 

 lies of eastern Massachusetts. But for this bad 

 taste in regard to color, on the part of the proprie- 

 tors of these dwellings, how beautiful and inviting 

 would be their appearance, where now a shade of 

 gloom hangs around them, that renders them, in an 

 external point of view, dismal and rej)ulsivc. 



This deplorable fashion, now so much in vogue, 

 was, I believe, borrowed from old England; and, 

 although she probably has other customs fiir worse 

 than this which she would be quite willing to lend 

 us, I sincerely hope that we shall not only refuse 

 to adopt them, but we shall soon discountenance 

 the practice in question, that has already robbed so 

 many of our thriving villages of much of their 

 beauty, and that the day is not far distant when all 

 our dwellings of wood, of whatever name or situa- 

 tion, shall be dressed in coats ofspo/lcss luhiie .' 



Several years ago, when I was a subscriber to 

 the "Boston Cultivator," and you were in the edito- 

 rial chair, an article appeared in that paper, under 

 the editorial head, which (if I recollect rightly) 

 spoke in strong terms against the practice of paint- 

 ing our dwellings white, and argued at some length 

 in favor of the divers colors to which I allude. Two 

 of the reasons given in that article, why colored 

 paints should be substituted for white, were the fol- 

 lowing, viz: — Firstly, "They are more durable 

 than white." Secondly, "They are not so injuri- 

 ous to the eyes." Now this may be all true, but 

 allowing it is, I should stili be decidedly opposed 

 to the change, notwithstanding its truthfulness. On 

 precisely the same ground, and with equal proprie- 

 ty, perhaps, a gay village belle might promenade 

 our streets, or attend the fashionable parties, balls, 

 &c., arrayed in a dress of shaggy "Canada grey," 

 of the thickness of a board; and every one, I think, 

 would acknowledge that a dress made from such a 

 substantial article would be much more durable 

 than the light fabrics usually worn by young ladies, 

 and I very much doubt whether the admiring eyes 

 of dashing beaux would be very seriously injured 

 by gazing at a "lovely creature" thus bedecked, 

 e'en though she were a dazzling belle ! 



Having given another's reasons v.hy colored 

 paints should be used on our buildings, I will, with 

 your permission, Mr. Editor, tell a little story by 

 which the reader may learn why, in the opinion of 

 a worthy deacon, it is used. At a business meet- 

 ing held some two or three years since, in a certain 

 school district, not a hundred miles from Boston, 

 it was voted that the school-house in said district 

 should be painted, and Deacon was according- 

 ly chosen to employ the painters, and see that the 

 painting was done as it should be; whereupon the 

 Deacon arose, and in a short speech, desired to 

 be instructed in regard to wjiat color he should liave 

 the building painted. Said he, "I want to get it 

 painted the color that will suit the majority of the 

 inhabitants of the district. Perhaps if I should go 

 and get it painted my favorite color, it wouldn't 

 .suit another man here, and then, in such a case, it 

 would occasion sneering remarks at my expcn.se. 

 Supposing T should paint it black, for instance, 

 they'd say, 'there, he's been and painted it black; 

 I guess he's mourning for his sins.' " By this it 



appears that Deacon considers that to have a 



house painted a dismal color, is proof positive that 

 its owner is "mourning for his sins." Now it is 

 all very well for a man to mourn over his sins, but 



