308 



NEW ENr.T AND FAKI^'KR. 



April IS, 1828. 



(From the Ne 



: Farmer.) 



ONTHEIMPROTE3IENT OV PASTirUES. 



I3i; J. Buel, Esq. nf .many. 



I shall coiiRit'er them under the tu-o following 

 heads : 



1 Thi)se ill which the plough is altogctlier ex- 

 cluded, which may be called permanent pastures — 

 and, 



2. Those which intervene in alternate luishand- 

 ry, and which may be denominated temporarii. 



The first comprises lands which are too stony, 

 too wet, or too hilly, for tillage, and sometimes 

 river alluvians. The lutlerare less frequently de- 

 pastured here than in Great Britain. There they 

 are considered necessary io fatten, while the hilly 

 uplands are appropriated to rear and to feed neat 

 cattle. Their superior value with us, fur hav, in 

 situations accessible to larce towns, has generally 

 confined pastur gc upon tliem to the aftermath. 



1 The advantages of old pasture groimds are 

 very highly v.ilued in Great Britain. They con- 

 tain a greater viriety of grasses, and yield a much 

 greater quaniity of food, than those which have 

 been recently hiid down. The feed is believed to 

 be also more nutritious, as the sod is found to 

 abound in the firii-r native grasses, which, on a.c- 

 count of the little product they vield in hay, are 

 not so commonly sown as tho'se which afford hull;- 

 ier products Grasses do not all grow alil^e ; some 

 jMart early and afford a jrnod bite in spring; some 

 are more luxuriint a' midsummer ; and others 

 again afford nutritious herbarre in autumn and 

 'vinter. Old pastures contain more or less ofench. 

 and consequently give a succession of fre--'i feed. 

 They are truly perennial. Their va'.ue, other 

 circumstances being similar, is in proportion to 

 their fertility ; for vegetables, like anim Is. require 

 food for llieir developement .-^nd perfection, and 

 thrive in proportion as this is abundant and nu- 

 tritious. 



When pasture grounds are wet, the first object 

 should be to drain them thoroughly Wet orounds 

 produce coarse grasses, which smother the finer 

 Idnds, and become poached by the feet of cuttle, 

 till the sod is partially or wholly destroyed. Moist 

 grounds„on the contrary, produce the ^reate.st va- 

 riety and most nutritious qualitv of jrrasscs. 



The e.Ktirpation of bushes, thistles, dock, ani 

 other useless plants, although but seldom or par- 

 tially attended to, will wi''Il repsy the labour in the 

 increased quantity of feed, to say nothing of the 

 appearance of neatness which it gives to grounds. 

 By this, I do not mean to exclude trees, either sin- 

 gle, in clumps, or in belts upon the borders. These 

 afford shade, s!if*lter, and fp;el, without inaterialiy 

 injuring the pa.<ture. Where the common locust 

 is exempt from the depredations of the worm, it 

 may be raised in this vvay with great profit. T have 

 been much pleased with the attention which has 

 Ja^n paid to this subject in Pennsvlvania. and in 

 the southern parts of tliis state. Belts of forest 

 trees arc peculiarly serviceable in protecting win- 

 ter crops from the severity of cold. 



Manuring pasture grounds, otherwise than by 

 the tlroppings of cattle that are fed upon them, is 



I practice that has few or no followers among us ; 

 and yet it might bo done with as much advantage 

 here as in other countries. But for this purpose. 



II would not recommend cattle dung, but road al- 

 luvian. swamp earth, and composts. The best and 

 <:heapeat top-dressing for pastures as well as 

 .•ueadows that I am acquainted with, with the ex- 



ception of pl.isier lit' Paris, is \\ hat tht^ Scolcli cull 

 middens, or Lord Meadowbank's compost middens. 

 It is composed of about three parts swamp earth, 

 and one part fresh stable dunsf, placed in compact 

 alternate layers, to the heicrht of four or five feet, 

 anr! suffered to remain until incipient fermentation 

 pervaiies the mass The swump earth I speak of, 

 is the black vegetable matter, which has accumu- 

 lated in bo?s and wet gr-utnds, and which is often 

 insoluble, ami unfit for the food of plnnts, unti' de- 

 composition has been be?un by the aid of hot 

 dung, lime, or other extraneous agent. I have 

 made this compost with success, and applied it 

 with profit. It is a cheap method, when the mu- 

 terifils are at hand, of trebling or quadrupling ma- 

 nure, for all the purposes of hiisban Irv. It should 

 be applie I to ffr- ss ('rounds in autumn. 



Scarifying or harrowin? pastures in the spring, 

 which are whi.t is termed hide bound, is a good re- 

 mei'v for the evil, and se ves to extirpate masses, 

 whi<h are the bane of the finer grasses. Seeds 

 may be scattered previous to this operation with 

 certnin advanla're Heavy rollers are also used 

 with benefits, as enrlv as the sole of the irrass is 

 solid enough to susfnin tho weight of cattle. It 

 reduces inequalitieo occa-^ioned bv frost, and press- 

 es the earth to the collar an'' roots of the plants. 



2 lu nrcparincr new pastures, the rule should 

 be. to Bodoavor as far as possible, to mike them 

 resemble old one=:. ^nd this is best eff.^cted by 

 so\yin!,' soed of all the esteemed varieties found in 

 ol' pastures. On this head our practice is very 

 defective ■ two kinds beinff the I'reatest extent to 

 which 0"r evpptiments hove been carried I have 

 read snm" interesting evoeriments made at Wo- 

 hurn hv Sinclair, ^n this subject ; but as the hook 

 is in the hands of a fri«'nd. I can only quote from 

 recollection. This indefntiofahle experimenter 

 counted the number of plnnts upon a given sur- 

 face of rich old pasture, and upon a like surfac 

 of new pastures, sown with from two to ten or a 

 doren kinds of grass seeds The old sod sunpoit- 

 ed about 11.000 plants ; on the new the numler 

 vTried, I think, from about 700 to 7r>. and was 

 found to he nearly in the ratio of the number of 

 grass seeds sown. The weight of the produce cut 

 at the proper season, corresponded somewhat with 

 the number of plants. The deductions from these 

 facts were, that by sowing a great number of kinds, 

 and an abundance of seed, new pastures might in 

 two vears acquire nearly the val.ieof old ones: 

 for though a given space would crow but a cer- 

 tain number of one variety, yet that the same 

 space would support more than double thnt num- 

 ber of Severn! varieties : and that consequently 

 many would afford much more forage than orxe or 

 two varieties on the same surface. 



These deductions correspond with the establish- 

 ed maxims of natural philosophy. All plants take 

 from the soil food which benefits all ; yet every 

 species requires for its developement and perfec- 

 tion, something peculiar which other species do 

 not imhibo. And although the soil contains only 

 enough of this peculiar nutriment to stipport a cer- 

 tiin uumhr-r of plants of one species, yet it may 

 inbound in the peculiar nutriment of others. But I 

 need not ri'sort to abs'riise science to illustrate 

 what is apparent to every intelligent farmer. Our 

 system of rotation of crops is based upon this law 

 , of nature; and we see it confirmed in the alter- 

 nations which are constantly goingon in our fields 

 and forests. 



Our seed shops do not afford any great range in 



the .-ielertion of grass seeds. But we are better 

 off than we have been ; and if farmers consult their 

 true interests, we shall soon find new varieties 

 imported, and more care be.stowed in collecting 

 the seeds of valuable indigenous kinds. At pres- 

 ent ive can obtain seeds of the tali oat grass, f,/?u- 

 ena elntior,) the orchard grass, (Dactytis glomera- 

 ta.) timothy (Phleum ptatense,) herd grass ('.5o-ro.5- 

 tisstrirta,, and white and red clover, (Trifolium 

 prattnse and T. repens.) These are all suitable 

 for pasture grasses. The Poa pratensis, P. triv- 

 ialis. P. compressa, (rough and smooth stalked 

 meadow and blue grasses,) the Agrostis alba. 

 white top or foul meadow,) the Holcug lanatus. 

 (meadow soft grass) some of the Festucas and se- 

 veral of the Agrostis families, are in^:igenous, and 

 come in spontaneously, to soils adapted to their 

 growth The seedsof meadow foxtail, sweet scent- 

 ed vernal grass, and the fescue, may be obtained 

 from Great Britain, and would be valuable acces- 

 sions to our pasture grounds. 



SWKET POTATOS. 

 Diredions for the presentation of the sups o///i» 

 Sireet Poiatos, and for their cultivation. 

 The Slips are nothing more than the small po- 

 tatos or roots last thrown off by the plant. They 

 are preferred to larger ones on the several grounds 

 of econouiy, of food and and of room — of their be- 

 inj more easily preserved, and less likely to rot 

 in the groimd after they are planted. The writer 

 of this, during fifteen years, never succeeded in 

 gettinfr more than one large sweet potato to vege- 

 tate or grow in the open ground. The ignorance 

 of the mode of culture has probably been the cause 

 of their not having been raised here. 



The slips sjiould be put up for preservation 

 without bruising them (or as the directions from 

 New Jersey e.xpressed^t, they should be handled 

 as carefully as eggs) in a dry state, in perfectly 

 dry sand or earth, and kept in a warm place as 

 free as possible from moisture. 



Those who wish to be perfectly assured of their 

 success, will raise a small hot bed with, or with- 

 out glass about the 10th of April, on the south 

 side of a fence, wall or building. On this, they 

 will lay the slips or roots so close as totouch each 

 other, so that a bed of six feet square will be suf- 

 ficient for a bushel of them. They should then be 

 covered with about an inch of earth. If the culti- 

 vator has no hot bed frames, the bed at night may 

 be covered with a mat or with straw. 



(n 10 or 14 days some of the shoots will appear 

 ab.ive ground ; when about one half or even a 

 third so appear, they are all to he taken up to be 

 plsnted. Tho liirhlest soils are best adapted to 

 tham. As their roots almost universally strike 

 downwards, like those of the carrot, they are al- 

 ways placed on hills raised about nine inches, or 

 about the height of a potato hill, after its last 

 fnithfid hoeing. These hills should be four feet 

 nnrl a half apart in every direction. The slips, two 

 in each hill, one foot apart, are then put in either 

 with the fintrers, or a stick, or any instrrmient ca- 

 na'ile of milking n sufficient bole, ami the crown 

 or top should be within an inch or half inch of the 

 surface. When thus slatted or sprouted, it wilT 

 beessyto distinguish the end which sends out 

 mots, from that which nuts forth shoots for tho 

 open air. The slips should be put in perpendica- 

 [lorly or nearly so, the root end downwards. They 

 [ would grow without this precaution, but would bfi 

 [delayed and injured in their growth. A little dung 



