mvxk certainty and in such quantity as in Western New York, it would be much more 

 extensively used. 



We believe it would pay every farmer to take an acre or two of clover, as contiguous 

 to the barn as possible, and manure it highly in the fall or spring. It would be found 

 of great advantage to cut and feed to the horses in the stable at noon, and for an hour 

 or so before turning them into the field in the evening. A few acres so manured and 

 cut early would afterwards yield a splendid crop of clover seed ; or it might be mown 

 twice, as green food for the horses and cattle. 



We do not know what Italian rye grass will do for soiling purposes in our climate ; 

 it is certainly worthy a trial. If any of our readers have had any experience with it, 

 they would greatly oblige by giving us their views. 



Indian corn is perhaps the best food that we can grow for green food in summer. It 

 stands drouth better than any other crop ; and if the soil be rich, an immense amount 

 of nutritious food can be obtained per acre — certainly more than from any other 

 summer crop. For this crop the soil should be either naturally very rich or be well 

 manured. Let it be j^repared as you would your other corn land. The deeper it is 

 plowed, and the mellower it is made, the better. Four bushels of seed should be sown 

 broadcast per acre, as soon after corn planting as possible. If the soil is moist and in 

 good, fine order, soak the seed corn for twenty-four hours previous to sowing. In this 

 way it will be up in two or three days, and will get the start of the weeds; and if the 

 corn is sown thick, and grows well, it will smother them all, and leave the land in good 

 condition for the following wheat crop. Perhaps, however, it would be best to sow the 

 corn in rows twelve or fifteen inches apart, and hoe it once or twice; the cornVould 

 grow more rapidly, and the soil would be cleaner. 



Lucerne ansv^'ers well for soiling purposes, but its cultivation is attended with consid- 

 erable labor in keeping the soil free from weeds. It is a perennial plant, and does not 

 reach its full growth till the third year. On a rich, sandy loam, well under-drained, 

 plowed, and subsoiled, immense crops of lucerne can be grown. Guano is a splendid 

 manure for this crop, and possesses the advantage of being free from weeds. Lucerne 

 is sown early in the spring, in rows from one to two feet apart ; eight or ten pounds of 

 seed per acre. It must be frequently hoed and kept free from weeds, and should be 

 cut but once the first year; in after years it will afford three or four crops in a season. 



Ley 



EmiORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



Farming near Washington. — We learn from the National Iutelligen^:er tliat Mr. Charles B. 

 Calvert has been offered $50,000 for two hundred acres of his farm, and refused to take the 

 money. Two hundred and fifty dollars an acre is a high price for forming lands, and it is only in 

 consideration of valuable buildings and other improvements that one would be justified in paying 

 any such sum. Pdverdale, (as Mr. Calvert's estate is called,) contains but little less than tln-ee 

 thousand acres, and lies north east of Bladensburg, extending from the village between three and 

 four miles up a beautiful valley, watered by a fine mill-stream. The father of the present pro- 

 prietor was a large tobacco grower, and most of this plantation has been much worn by this 

 scourging crop, when often repeated on the same field. At present, the farm is mainly devoted to 

 dairy purposes, producing milk and cream for the largest hotel in Washington, and a surplus for the 

 market Tlie cows kept are the Short Horns, Ayrshires, Alderneys, and their ci'osses with the best 

 native milkers. Hay is too valuable in the Metropolis to feed to cows in winter, as Mr. C. believes, 

 although milk sells at eight cents a quart. Turnips, shorts, cut straw and cornstalks are more 

 economical food, so that most of the hay grown at Riversdale is sold off the farm. It is a little 

 remarkable how few understand the art of growing large crops of grass and hay in the United 

 States. The quite unexpected and prodigious decrease in the number of sheep, cows, working oxen 



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