244 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



tares, oats or barley. The after culture, if sown broadcast, 

 consists merely in keeping down the weeds; if the drill system 

 has been adopted, the cultivator may be used between the rows, 

 by which, in addition to removing the weeds, the soil will be 

 kept loose. 



Tares, when used as green forage, are cut after the pods 

 are formed, but long before the ripening of the seed; and there- 

 fore, being in the class of crops most generally allowed to ma- 

 ture their seeds, they are not exhausting to the soil. But on 

 the contrary, with relation to the farmer, they are to be con- 

 sidered as restorative crops, from the great quantity of manure 

 which their consumption affords. They are exceedingly nutri- 

 tious, and supply a larger quantity of food, for a limited period, 

 than almost any other forage crop. All the animals of the farm 

 are fond of it, and thrive upon it in an eminent degree. Hogs 

 may be fattened entirely upon it. It is suited to milch cows, 

 causing them to give more butter than any other species of 

 food except sugar-beet and it is employed extensively in 

 feeding horses. Tares are sometimes eaten off by sheep being 

 penned upon them, but never by the larger animals. 



Tare crops are sometimes made into hay, but this practice 

 cannot be recommended in this country here the great and 

 only advantage is in their cultivation as green crops. The 

 produce of tares cut green is, according to MIDDLETON, ten or 

 twelve tons per acre. The produce in seed is also consider- 

 able, varying according to the season and other circumstances, 

 from twenty-five to forty bushels. The use of the seed is 

 generally for re-production. They are highly relished by 

 pigeons, and it is not unlikely that they may prove a very 

 good food for poultry. In Germany they are fed to horses, 

 cows, sheep and swine. The diseases of the tare are very 

 few a crop is sometimes, but very rarely, lost by mildew." 



33. Ribbon Grass. 



The ribbon grass, Phalaris americana, is likely to become 

 of great value in our husbandry. It has been found to be better 

 adapted to wet, boggy grounds than any other species of grass 

 to propagate rapidly either by its seeds or by its roots to yield 

 a very large product in hay or pasture, and to be well adapted 

 to farm stock. The subject merits further attention, [experi- 

 ments,] and if our anticipations are not irrationally founded, it 

 will yet become the gama grass of the north. BUEL. The 

 value of this promising grass was discovered accidentally, and 

 is thus narrated by ABEDNEGO ROBINSON, of Portsmouth, N. H. 

 "A neighbour wishing to get rid of some of the roots which 



