158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



In order to facilitate the adoption of so useful 

 a plan as the keeping of regular accounts, it 

 would be of use that not only memorandum 

 books, for the transactions of the da}-, but ac- 

 count books were properly arranged, and divid- 

 ed into columns, containing every head, which 

 experience in the business of farming may sug- 

 gest, together with a broader column for gener- 

 al observations. The accounts of gentlemen 

 farmers, or of the bailiffs they employ cannot be 

 too minute ; but in regard to common farmers, 

 the great objects are to have them short and dis- 

 tinct. 



It is proper to add that to record pecuniary 

 transactions is not the only object to be attended 

 to in the accounts of a farmer. It is necessary 

 to have an annual account of the live slock, and 

 of their value at the time; of the quantity of 

 hay consumed ; of the grain in store, or in the 

 stack yard ; and of the implements and other ar- 

 ticles in which the capital is invested. An ac- 

 count detailing the expense and return of each 

 field, according to its productive contents is like- 

 wise essential, without which it is impossible 

 to calculate the advantages of different rotations ; 

 the mo.st beneficial mode of managing the fawn ; 

 or the improvements of which it is susceptible. 



FOR THE NEW E.\C1.A.VD FARJHER. 



Mr. Editor — I have for several years past, and more 

 frequently of late on the margin of the Blue Hills and 

 ill other retired spots, had the jjratification to observe a 

 bird of most beautiful plumage, which, though coy and 

 disposed to solitude, I sufficiently noted to find very 

 distinctly described in the admirable work of our coun- 

 tryman, " Wil?on's Ornitholog-y." This description 1 

 have abridged and now send you for publication. Tho' 

 your paper is very properly and usefully devoted to 

 agriculture — yet whatever gives a splendor to the scen- 

 ery of the country and is not merely harmless, but use- 

 ful to the cultivator of the soil — cannot be said to be 

 out of place in your pages. It will be perceived that 

 this showy strangr, which is induced more and more 

 to visit us of late, mostly feeds upon the large winged 

 and most noxious and injurious insects. If, however, 

 this bird, so modest and sweetly attired, is not kindly 

 received, we shall lose tho visits with which he grati- 

 fies us. Why not place him With the Swallow, the 

 Turtle Dove, and other favored harmless birds, who in 

 fond reliance cluster about our houses ? But above all, 

 let those who deal Oiit leaden death, consider th.^t as 

 this sweet bird of both song and plumage affords no in- 

 ducement as game or luxury for fond — whether it does 

 not belong to their spirit and gallantry lo spare as they 

 widh to be thought its admirers, imiocence and benxily. 



W. 

 TUE SCARLET TA.\IGER. 



This is one of the most shewy birds which 

 regularly visits us from the south in the spring 

 of the year, dressed in the richest scarlet, and 

 set off with the most jetty black. He rarely 

 approaches the habitations of man, though he 

 f-ometimes is seen in the orchards in search of 

 food. The depth of the woods is his favorite 

 abode, whore, amongst the thick foliage, his 

 simple notes may be heard, which appear to 

 proceed from a distance, thougii the bird should 

 be near to you ; a faculty no doubt intended by 

 the kind Author of nature to secure hiin from 

 the danger to wliich his glowing color would 

 expose him. His nest is sliglitly built on the 

 horizontal branch of a tree ; the eggs are three, 

 of a pale blue color, spotted with brown and 

 purple ; they rarely raise more than one brood 

 in a season, and leave us for the south in the 

 last of August. His principal food is large wing- 

 ed insects, such as wasps, hornets, and humble 

 boe*, and fruit, particularly the whortleberry. 



which in their season form almost his whole 

 fare. The male of this species is rather less 

 than the robin ; its plumage a most brilliant 

 scarlet, except the wings and tail, which are of 

 a deep black ; the bill curved and of a yellow- 

 ish color ; the legs and feet light blue. The 

 lemale is green above, and yellow below; the 

 wings and tail a brownish black, edged with 

 green. The young birds, during their residence 

 here, continue nearly of the same color with 

 the female. 



Among.st all the birds which inhalnt our 

 woods, there is none that strikes the eye with 

 so much brilliancy, when seen among the green 

 leaves with the light falling strongly on his plu- 

 mage, as this does. His manners are modest 

 and inoffensive. He commits no depredations 

 on the property of the husbandman, but rather 

 benefits him by the daily destruction of many 

 noxious insects ; and when winter approaches 

 he seeks in a distant country the sustenance 

 which the severity of the season denies to his 



ndustry in this. He is a striking ornament to 

 our rural scenery, and none of the meanest of 

 its songsters. 



Such being the true traits of his character, 

 we should always with pleasure give a safe re- 

 ception and welcome to this beautiful inoffen- 

 sive stranger in our orchards, groves and forests. 



THE FARMER. 



BOSTOjY .—SATURDAY, DEC. 14, 1822. 



ON LAYING DOWN LAND TO GRASS. 



It has been said by some writers that a fa,rmer ought 

 never to sow grass seeds with any kind of grain, but in 

 all cases to sow it by itself; which, it is alfirmed, will 

 always do more than repay the loss that is sustained by 

 the want of a crop of grain. Dr. Anderson and some 

 other writers, however, condemn that practice, and 

 observe, in substance, that if we were to have regard 

 to no other circumstance but the grass crop alone, it 

 will always be best to sow it with some kind of grain ; 

 but when we consider likewise the loss that the farmer 

 sustains for want of a crop of grain, the practice recom- 

 mended of sowing grass seed alone must be looked on 

 as highly pernicious. 



When grass seeds are sown with grain the latter 

 grows quickly and prevents the growth of annual 

 weeds, while it shades the tender plants of grass from 

 the direct rays of the sun, and preserves the earth in a 

 proper degree of moisture, so as to nurse the tender 

 grass in the most kindly manner. The grain decaying 

 after the grass is well rooted and can bear the heat and 

 drought, the grass obtains as much air as is necessary. 



Though ground is not often too rich to bear a good 

 crop of grass, yet, sometimes it mSy be too highly ma- 

 nured to produce a good crop of grain. In this case, it 

 may be prudent to forego the hope of a crop of grain, 

 but not to omit sowing the seeds of some kind of grain 

 with the grass seeds. Grain should, where the land is 

 very rich, be sown thinly over the field, and will help 

 to bring forward the grass in a kindly manner, and il 

 the season proves dry, the farmer may thus obtain a 

 very great crop. But, if the season is rainy, or the 

 crop Irora any other cause too luxuriant, whenever the 

 grain or the grass begin to lodge, so as to be in danger 

 of rotting, it should all be cut immediately, and em- 

 ployed as a green fodder for cattle or made into hay. 

 The extraordinary quautity of fodder procured in this 

 way, will more than indemnify for the price of the seed 

 of the grain; as the farmer may thus procure two full 

 crops of succulent fodder in one season. 



Autumnal sowing of grass seed is not approved of by 

 good writers. The spring of the year is preferred ai 

 less precarious, although fall sowing will sometimes 

 answer. 



The mould of the ground, which is laid down trf 

 grass, should be made very fine, as the seeds, being 

 very small, may otherwise be covered too deep, by fal-, 

 ling below, or be scorched by lying above great clods. 

 Like other seeds, they require a due degree of moisturi; 

 to cause them to vegetate, and therefore should not be 

 left exposed to the rays of the sun without being cov- 

 ered ; for unless rainy weather follows immediately af- 

 ter sowing, many of the seeds will not vegetate. On, 

 thi« account it is always well to harrow the ground im. 

 mediately after sowing with a light close-toothed har- 

 row, which should be kept for that purpose ; and some- 

 times a gentle rolling is of use after that, especially 

 upon light spongy ground. But no one circumstance 

 so effectually ensures the vegetating of these small 

 seeds as sowing them as soon as possible after the 

 ground is ploughed, while the soil remains moist. It 

 is always good economy to lay down rich, and not poor 

 ground to grass. 



It is asserted in the Memoirs of the New York Board 

 of Agriculture, that "grass seeds take remarkably well 

 with buck wheat. Three pecks of buck wheat per 

 acre may be sown, and the grass seeds harrowed ir 

 with it ; the whole should be neatly rolled, and a 

 smooth surface left ; as buck wheat sown at this sea- 

 son will not go to seed to advantage, part of the crop, 

 when in full blossom, should be cut daily, as green 

 food for working horses and cattle." 



Rets' Cyclopedia, under the articles " Grass," auJ 

 " Laying-down to Grass," gives very copious and mi- 

 nute directions on this subject, of some of which we 

 shall avail ourselves, and others are either well known 

 to our practical agriculturists, not well adapted to our 

 soil and climate, or in substance comprehended in what 

 we have written. " It is better that the lands intend- 

 ed for grass, especially when they are intended to be 

 kept in a permanent state of sward, should incline, in 

 seme measure, to moisture ; light, thin, dry descrip- 

 tions of soil are better suited for the production of 

 giain. The most usual period of putting in grass seeds 

 has been the spring, at the time the grain crops are 

 sown ; but where the land has been brought to a suit- 

 able state of preparation, hy means of green and other 

 fallow crops, the latter end of the summer, as about 

 August, has been the more general time. In the for- 

 mer case they are most commonly put in with the 

 grain crops ; but in the latter without any other sorts 

 of crops." On this subject there appears to have been 

 a great diversity of opinion, but on the whole it seems 

 to be the belief of the best agriculturists that grasi 

 seeds answer almost equally well in either method. 

 " Where the land is in a proper state of preparation 

 and tillage, if sown with oats, they will be apt to be- 

 come so luxuriant as to greatly injure, if not wholly 

 destroy, the young grass-plants, by the closeness of 

 their shade. In some cases, however, they succeed 

 tohrably well with this sort of crop." " The practice 

 of employing bush harrows is improper, as in that way 

 the seeds are liable to be drawn into lumps." 



Sir John Sinclair observes that " the manner of sow- 

 ing grass seed requires to be particularly attended to. 

 .Machines have been invented for that purpose, which 

 answer well, but they are unfortunately too expensive 

 for the generality of farmers. It is a bad system to 

 mix seeds of different plants before sowing thrin, in 

 order to have the fewer casts. It is better to sow t ach 

 sort separately, as the expense of going several times 

 over the ground is nothing compared to the bmefit of 

 having each sort equally distributed, The seeds of 



