162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ApR13' 



lining with a few inches of earth. This process 

 may be repeated once or twice, until the maturity 

 of the crop, or the increasing warmth of spring, 

 shall render it useless. 



Fcyr the Hew England Farmer. 



A NEW GRASS. 



To THE Hon. Marshal P. Wilder. 



Dear Sir : — You will justify me in taking the 

 liberty to address you (through the New England 

 Farmer, our common friend, and a medium of 

 intercourse with the fraternity,) upon a subject of 

 general interest, and especially in view of your 

 known wishes and facilities for furthering the de- 

 mands of our yeomanry. It is to introduce to your 

 notice a new seedling variety of grass. A spe- 

 cies of Bromus obtained from a single flant of sur- 

 passing luxuriance found among Euglish turnips, 

 grown from imported seed, which I transferred to 

 my garden, and raised what seed I could, till I had 

 twenty acres of it growing, when I invited the at 



ance the second years' growth. I saw in Man- 

 chester the produce of three cuttings of one sea- 

 son of Italian rye grass, the united length of 

 which was more than thirteen feet." 



Lord Hatherton sows annually at Teddesley,. 

 about 100 acres of rye grass. Ilis letter to me 

 states that "common rye grass is always sown 

 with clover, about one peck of rye grass seed to the 

 acre. Italian rye grass is generally sown alone, 

 three bushels to the acre, and may be mown three 

 times." I will not multiply quotations, but sub- 

 mit it to your superior judgment, whether to pre- 

 sent the subject to our State Legislature first, or 

 to our State or National Board of Agriculture. If 

 either or all of them should recommend it, or of- 

 fer a premium for raising the seed f)r 2 ar 3 

 years, or send s ome to different societies for dis- 

 tribution in small samples, its wide circulation 

 would, in a few years, bring it beside our stand- 

 ard grasses with a fair supply. 



It gives me increased pleasure to write you, 

 as one aware of the great amount of capital and 

 tention of our Worcester County Agricultural So-jscience, which in Europe and in England particu- 

 ciety to it. Their President, the late Col. J. W. larly, are embarked in agriculture, and o-f the cost- 

 Lincoln, and Col. Estabrook, of the committee on ly experiments made, and in process, to ascertain 

 farms, came and viewed it. One field of five acres, and diffuse knowledge of the best measures — and 

 waving higher than their heads — some seven acres j by the Royal and other societies, clubs, and pre- 

 of pine plain in pasture ; and a mow of three tons miums, to awaken and encourage a deeper inter- 

 fragrant hay, cut in bloom, from one acre. The est in improvements in every department of the art. 

 President remarked, "It is well worth a journey requiring capital, labor and skill. If English land- 

 from AVorcester, to sec this splendid grass.''' A ^ holders have demonstrated that the heat on a soil 



thoroughly underdrained and deeply pulverized, oiper- 

 ates atonce to promote vegetation, which ivilhout it 

 would be employed in evaporating stagnant water, 

 for days and perhaps for weeks, by which the crop 

 is lessoned, and often lost, it needs no argument to 

 prove the wisdom of a measure that makes sun- 

 shine available for the profit of labor to prepare 

 the soil as well as the woodpile. If by skilful 

 feeding they have found that twice the amount 

 of stock may be kept by summer soiling, that 

 could be by pasturing, from the same acres, to 

 which the stall of all, being saved, is applied, and 

 if absorbents may be used to prevent the escape of 

 ammonia, and greatly to increase the value of 

 manure ; if a breed of cattle, sheep and swine, 

 &c., may be obtained by systematic breeding and 

 crossing that will return 20 or 30 per cent, more 

 than otherwise could be had for the same cost — 

 and if science and experience will equally improve 

 fruit, vegetables, implements, buildings, &c., lead- 

 ing to eminence in farming there, then surely, 

 those kindred spirits in our republic should be en- 

 couraged, who, by importing the choicest stock 

 and seeds and trees, or by the press— or lectures — 

 or by study of Nature's laws, by tests and demon- 

 strations, are bringing out new focts and reme- 

 dies — or by associations, visits and correspondence, 

 are seeking to bring every fai-mer to share in the 

 knowledge, toil and gain, to what the spirit of the 

 age invites him, by co-operation. With respect, 



notice of it, with my letter, appeared in their An- 

 nual Report, 1851, pages G7 to 70, to which please 

 refer. You may find a brief description of its pro- 

 perties in my letter to Hon. J. Davis, Chairman 

 of the Agricultural Committee held in the State 

 House, Feb. 13. Subject, Grasses; published in 

 the N. E. Farmer, June, 1852, and Mass. Plough- 

 man, April 17. I have taken much pains by cor- 

 respondence and by sending specimens of my Bro- 

 mus seed to England, and by comparing it with 

 the seed of their Italian Rye Grass (which it mo^t 

 resembles) to ascertain its relative properties and 

 yal&e. The result is decidedly in favor of mine, as 

 to early maturity, — greater productiveness — and 

 the nutritive value of the seed being full twice as 

 heavy as any English variety I have seen ; whicli, 

 I think, they never use for feed. This excellence 

 I attribute to the artificial culture to which I have 

 subjected it ; always saving the seed from crops 

 the first year after being sown, thus inducing the 



habit of an annual upon the plant. In other re- 

 spects, all they say is true of mine. I quote a few 



of many encomiums. 

 The Messrs. Lawsons say, "The Italian Rye 



Grass produces many sub-varieties ; as a proof of 



this, we received, one year, specimens of no less 



than fifty distinct spikes, collected in a field near 



North Berwick. It is eaten greedily by cattle, 



green or dry. It yields fifty per cent, of hay. — 



It is excellent feed for working horses and makes ^ 



abundance of milk from cows. It is valuable as 'yours truly, Benjamin Willard. 



on early grass and retains its power of growth ti Lancaster, Jan. 30th, 1853. 



a late period in the season. It withstands the se- 

 verity of winter when sown late."' 



Mr. Dickinson says, "it fits well for sowing in 



mixture with other grasses intended for permanent 



pasture. It is in high repute, and is invaluable 



for the alternate husbandry. Ewes and lambs do 



better upon it than upon any thing I have given 



them." Colman says, "I saw it in great luxuri- 



Mr. Clift's Address. — Through the polite at- 

 tention of Rev. Mr. Clift, wc have received the 

 Transactions of the Windham Cdunty, (Ct.) Ag- 

 ricultural Society, for the year 1852, together with 

 Mr. Clift's Address. It is printed neatly, and the 

 reports show a prosperous state of affairs in the 



