234 CULTIVATION OF GRASSES. 



avert the evil, and constitutes one of the late improve- 

 ments in farming. " The lands are thereby not only pre- 

 vented from being so much exhausted as would otherwise 

 be the case, and at the same time rendered fit for the 

 growth of particular kinds of grain, without the necessity 

 of fallowing ; but a much larger proportion of green and 

 other food, than could otherwise be obtained, is provided 

 for the support of live stock." The grasses best adapted 

 to this purpose, are the red and white clovers, lucerne, 

 and the orchard, tall oat, timothy, and rye grasses. Clover 

 is the primary dependance on all soils that will grow it, 

 and particularly where gypsum can exercise its magic 

 powers. As vegetables are said to exhaust the soil in 

 propordon to the smallness of their leaves, (the larger and 

 more succulent these, the more nutriment the plant draws 

 from the atmosphere, and the less from the soil,) clovers 

 are entitled to the high commendation they have received 

 among American farmers. But as these plants are liable 

 to premature destruction by the frosts of winter, it is pru- 

 dent and wise to intermix with their seeds those of some 

 other grass more to be depended on. For this purpose, 



On sands^ light loams^ and gravels — and these consti- 

 tute the soils usually employed in convertible husbandry 

 — the orchard-grass, or tall meadow oat-grass, appears 

 best calculated to insure profit. They grow early, delight 

 in a clover soil, and are fit for the scythe when clover is 

 in bloom — the period at which it ought to be made into 

 hay. The hay from this mixture may be made before 

 the harvest commences ; and if the soil is good, a second 

 crop may be cut almost equal to the first. If intended 

 for pasture, the second or third year, either of these grasses 

 will afford more abundant herbage than timothy. Lu- 

 cerne may be sown on deep sandy loams. 



On clays and heavy loams, timothy may be sown alone, 

 or those grasses named in the preceding paragraph, sepa- 

 rate or mixed. 



On wet soils and reclaimed swamps, as the only object 

 of tillage ought to be to prepare the ground to be laid 

 down in grass, the kinds indicated in the preceding re- 

 marks as suitable for such soils, and intended for meadow 



