Vol. XIV. 



ROCHESTER, K Y., JUNE, 1853. 



Ko. VI. 



[<!). 



ON THE MISMANAGEMENT OF PASTURES. 



Pastures are more neglected than meadows, and meadows are generally more neglected 

 than fields devoted to grain culture and hoed crops. To obtain a clear idea of the 

 growth of grass, clover, and other herbage for grazing purposes, one needs to study the 

 development of the roots, leaves, and stems, of these forage plants. The first and most 

 important consideration is to have good land on which grass is expected to grow ; and 

 if the soil be defective in any particular, the remedy of such defect is the thing to be 

 done in order to make the pasture more profitable to its owner. But instead of cor- 

 recting existing errors in th* management of grazing lands, and enriching them by the 

 application of manure, lime, ashes, and other fertilizers, and by draining where neces- 

 sary, they are generally about half or a quarter seeded, and then fed so closely that it is 

 literally impossible for the roots of herbage plants to grow to any size, multiply, fill and 

 cover the whole ground. Hence, common pastures present numerous naked spots, and 

 are in the poorest possible condition to withstand the scorching, parching, dry weather 

 of summer and autumn. It is by sheer mismanagement that the grazing lands of the 

 United States yield so little good feed per acre, and are constantly becoming less pro- 

 ductive. By comparing the stock kept in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1840, with that 

 returned at the census of 1S50, we find a very considerable falling off in quantity, 

 although there are many million acres of fresh lands yet to be subdued which might be 

 used for grazing purposes, in the States named. When we carefully study the statis- 

 tics of any section of this great Republic, the same sad efiects of mismanagement of 

 so-called improved lands meets the eye of the investigator. In 1845, New York con- 

 tained 11,T37,2Y6 acres of improved land; and in 1850, 12,408,968 acres ; increase in 

 five yeai's, 671,092. These figures show an average increase per annum of nearly 

 120,000 acres, giving facilities for keeping a proportionably increased amount of stock, 

 provided the soil was not deteriorated. The number of neat cattle in the State in 1845 

 was 2,072,330; the number in 1850 was 1,877,639; decrease in five years, 194,691. 

 Why should an increase of nearly 700,000 acres of improved land in the State be 

 attended by a decrease of neat stock of nearly 200,000 head? Is it the "increase of 

 horses in the numerous cities and villages ? We thought that possibly this might be 

 the case, for horses have largely increased in these places by their rapid increase of 

 population ; but when we turn to the tables which show the aggregates, we find that 

 formers were unable to keep so many horses (we will name the counties at another time) 

 in 1850 as they did in 1845. Notwithstanding the increase in the cities of New York, 

 Brooklyn, Rochester, Buffalo, and other places, the number of horses decreased in the 

 State from 505,155 in 1845, to 447,014 in 1850. This falling off" in the rural districts 

 is a remarkable fact, and can only be explained by the sad mismanagement of the pas- 



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