226 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



CLOVER : ITS VALUE FOR CATTLE, FOR SEED, AND fOR 

 THE SOIL. 



We have received a communication from Mr 

 Henry Brewer, of Enfield, Tompkins county, illus- 

 trating the value of clover as a means of keeping up 

 the fertility of his soil, and of rendering its culture 

 profitable. Mr. Brewer was from old Dutchess, the 

 land of clover. He purchased his farm in Enfield 

 in 1830, at $8 50 per acre. It now gives a product 

 of from fifteen to forty dollars per acre per annum ; 

 and the improvement and the profit he ascribes prin- 

 cipally to the cultivation of clover. As the commu- 

 nication is very lengthy, having the writer's permis- 

 sion to do so, we give the purport of it in a con- 

 densed form. 



Mr. Brewer remarks, that New- York farmers pay 

 io those of New-Jersey and Pennsylvania annually 

 many thousand dollars for clover-seed, which they 

 might raise for themselves with profit. He would 

 as soon think of buying his seed-oats and seed- 

 wheat as his clover-seed. He prefers the Southern 

 or dwarf clover, because it is fit to cut five or ten 

 days earlier than the tall-growing or Northern kind, 

 and is more certain'of ripening the seed of the sec- 

 ond crop. He sows with his small grain at the rate 

 of fifteen Ibs. the acre, and sometimes sows his corn- 

 fields after the last hoeing. 



Mr. Brewer appropriates his clover to three very 

 valuable purposes : to feed his stock, to fertilize his 

 land, and to fill his purse ; and he has succeeded 

 admirably in them all, so far as we can judge. His 

 cattle thrive upon it, both as a green and a dry crop, 

 in summer and winter ; his wheat and corn feed and 

 thrive upon it, when buried and decomposing in the 

 soil ; and his purse increases with the increase of 

 his cattle and his crops. And, finally, besides feed- 

 ing his cattle and fertilizing his soil, the seed of his 

 second crop gives him an acreable profit, annually, 



