S24 



NEW ENGLAND FAIIMER. 



May 2, 182e. 



[From Memoirs ol the New York Board ot AgncuUure.] 



ON THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTER 

 AND CHEESE. 



BY S. Dii WITT, ESQ. OF ALBANV. 



(Continued from page 317 J 

 Here it is proper to be observed, that in laying 

 down grounds tor pasture lands, the English se- 

 lect the seeds of such grasses as will come to ma- 

 turity in succession ; but I think they carry this 

 scheme to excess, and that there is no necessity 

 for a mixture of such a variety of seeils to be used 

 for these purposes. In our country tlie most es- 

 teemed grasses are — white and red clover, timothy 

 or herds grass, the red top and Foul meadow. — 

 With these some other indigenous grasses inter- 

 mi.v, the merits of which deserve to be investiga- 

 ted. Our best grasses for meadows are unques- 

 tionably the timothy, the red top, and foul mf,au- 

 ow. The merits of this last mentioned grass are 

 notgeneially Unown, and I suspect it to be the 

 best, for low alluvial soils, to be found In our coun- 

 try. It appears to me be a variety of the red top, 

 Agrosiis vulgaris, and preferable to it, being more 

 delicate in its structure, and having leaves more 

 slender, longer, and in greater abundance. I have 

 been told by an acquaintance from Orange coun- 

 ty, that it is chiefly used on the reclaimed drown- 

 ed lands there, and preferred to all other grasses, 

 and that it yields most abundant crops. I know 

 from my own observation for a number of years, 

 that without any artificial preparation it has grad- 

 ually supplanted the coarse aquatic grasses on the 

 lower parts of the low-lands at Ithaca. There can 

 be no better hay tjiail that which is made of it. — 

 On a rich, moist soil it will grow uncommonly 

 dense, and I should think would yield as much 

 from an acre as any other of the best cultivated 

 grasses. 



In order to make a good meadow on a rich soil, 

 I would recommend this practice. Destroy all j 

 the weeds and natural grasses by ploughing, har- j 

 rowing, and suit:ible crops. Prepare the ground I 

 by sufficiently pulverizing it, and then sow on it ao 

 much timothy seed as that the growth from it shall 

 immediately cover the ground, at least as thick as 

 a field of fla.'c. This then will give you clear, a- 

 bundant crops of timothy to the e.Kclusion rtf every 

 other grass. Or if the ground be inclined to mois- 

 ture, use foul meadow seed in the same manner ; 

 or make use of a mi.Kture of timothy and foul mead- 

 ow ; at all events be not sparing of seed, and im- 

 mediate abundant crops will be the reward. Timo- 

 thy and foul meadow or red-top, I consider as the 

 best of any known grasses for our low-land mead- 

 ows, and tli.0 more every other kind can be kept 

 out of them the better. Some of the English grass- 

 es may be advantageously used in laying down 

 permanent pasture grounds ; but white clover and 

 timothy are the best in use among us. Lucerne 

 is to be preferred ior soiling and enriching the 

 ground, when fallowing is intended. By means of 

 it, with the assistance of gypsum, the poorest 

 soils can be made valuable. 



I iiave said that loo much seed cannnt be put in 

 the ground at once. Kyery body kn*)ws whf t a 

 small quantity i.^ generally used, and how long it 

 is before lanJa laid down as pastures or meadows 

 come to perfection, and how they are injured by 

 grasses of spontaneous growth, which ought not 

 to be there: but for which the greater part of the 

 aijrfacc of the ground is loft by the stingy sower. 

 Tn confirmation of the propriety of these remarlts, 



I will make further quotations from the Complete 

 Grazier. 



"The following proportions were sown a few 

 years since by the Earl of Darlington : 



White or Dutch clover, 17 pounds. 



Clean hay seed, 14 bushels. 



Rib grass, > 



Trefoil, i 



li pounds. 



By which means (the soil being previously plough 

 ed very fine, and made perfectly level) the land 

 was speedily covered with a thick and excellent 

 herbage. The only exceptionable thing in this 

 practice is the quantity of seed, which is certainly 

 too large for a statute acre." 



The last remark, I presume, means an unneces- 

 sary waste of seed, not that the quantity used was 

 an injury to the production of the field. 



" Mr. Daltoe's mode of laying down land to 

 grass is, to make the ground perfectly smooth and 

 level, and then sow upon every acre the following 

 seeds, viz : 



Hay seeds, 6 bushels. 



Rib grass, 12 pounds. 



White or Dutch clover, 8 do. 

 Burnet, 5 do. 



He manures it with a compost of earth, dung and 

 ashes, thoroughly mixed together, and folds his 

 sheep upon it, &c. The proportion of seed, how- 

 ever, is still too great, though in other respects 

 his management be excellent." 



"In the laying down of land for the purpose of 

 forming a good meadow, greatly superior to the 

 generality of pastures, the late Mr. Curtis recom- 

 mends the following grasses, and two species of 

 clover to be mixed in the following proportions: 

 Meadow fescue grass, one pint. 



Meadow fox tail grass, do. 



Rnugh-tailed meadow grass, half a pint. 



Smooth-stalked do. do. 



Crested dog's-tail, fourth of a pint. 



Sweet-scented spring grass, do. 



White or Dutch clover, half a pint. 



Common or red clover, do. 



" These are to be mixed together, and about 

 three bushels of them sown on an acre." 



Such appears to be the practice where agricul- 

 : ture has been growing towards perfection, aided 

 ' by all the eftbrts of man, and the acquisitions of 

 .science and experience assiduously and constant- 

 ly applied for its melioration for more than a thou- 

 isand years. Now let the practice in our country 

 be considered. With the reflection of this light 

 on it, how most wretched does it appear ! 

 \ How far the grasses of Europe are proper for 

 our country, experience must decide. We know 

 that one of our best grasses, timothy or herd's 

 grass, cannot be cultivated to advantage in Eng- 

 land, and sufficient experiments have not been 

 made, or if made, not recorded, to ascertain whicli 

 of the English grasses would be an acquisition in 

 our practice of husbandry. Nor have the proper 

 researches yet been made to ascertain what ad- 

 ditions may be made to ouv pastures and meadows, 

 by the introduction of the grasses on which our 

 cattle subsist in their ranges in our forests. For 

 this purpose I would advise, that a boi,anist should 

 turn a horse or cow, not starved, but with an ap- 

 petite rather sated, into the woods, at a proper 

 season of the year, and observe the grasses which 

 the animal would select for its food. By this 

 means some might be discovered which would 

 make valuable additions to those used with us for 

 our pastures or meadows. 



I have met with a remark in some English trea- 

 tise on the subject under consideration, that "a 

 good pasture is too valuable ever to be broken 

 up." If this be the case, let the man who under- 

 takes to prepare u dairy farm, soliloquise in this 

 manner, when he is preparing his pasture fields — 

 I am now about doing what is to be done only 

 once in my life-time, on the farm from which I am 

 to obtain my living ; therefore let no pains or ex- 

 pense be spared to have it done in the best pos- 

 sible manner. I will plough, harrow, and hoe my 

 field, and raise such crops on it as are best calcu- 

 loted to destroy every kind of vegetable now grow- 

 ing on it. I will make use of every means that 

 can be contrived to enrich the ground. I will 

 pulverize the soil, and level it as much as possible, 

 and then I will make a selection of the best and 

 most suitable grass seeds, and sow them in abun 

 dance on it, remembering that I cannot soxv too 

 much in order to have full crops immediately, and 

 to prevent the growth of noxious plants ; and if 

 •■my of these should notwithstanding spring up, I 

 must go over my fields and eradicate them, and in 

 a few years I will have a good clean pasture, 

 which vi-ill last my life-time, and be retained in 

 tlie highest slate of perfection by means of occa- 

 sional top dressings, or by scattering somepulver- 

 ived gypsum over it, and sometimes, perhaps, by 

 a scarification, all which will cost me but a trifle 

 compared with the benefits I shall receive from 

 tlicm. 



The late Gouverneur Morris had several dairy 

 establishments on his estate at Morrisania. On the 

 exquisite flavor of the butter they produced, I 

 have often feasted at his table. In rambling over 

 Ins fields, and visiting his dairies, among the nu- 

 merous instructive observations he made on agri- 

 cultural subjects, one was new to me, and I con- 

 sidered it worthy of being remembered, and of 

 having the truth of it investigated. It was thisi 

 " The older the pasture, the better will be the 

 milk and butter which it produces." Whether thia 

 be correct or not, I cannot from my own experi- 

 ence or observation decide further than this, that 

 some of the most luxuriant pastures about Morris- 

 ania, appeared to be very aged, ami I knew that 

 jthe butter they produced was most excellent. 



In closing this communication I shall make one 

 'further remark. The subjects on which I have 

 'touched must be confessed to bo important. They 

 I stand related to the essence of our highest inte- 

 j rests, the productions of our soil These are to 

 I create our wealth, and all our enjoyments thence 

 to be derived. They are therefore deserving of a 

 primary attention. Have the English, who aro 

 our school-masters in husbun<lry, taught us what 

 is suitable to their soil and climate, they have not 

 taught us what is suitable to ours. This is a task 

 belonging to ourselves and desirving of all our ap- 

 plication. Let then every practicable method be 

 adopted for ascertaining what grasses are most 

 proper for the pastures and ineadov.'s of our cot::: 

 try, and what seeds or mixtures of .-eeds are '.. 

 most suitable for our varjous soils. 'J'his is a bu^ 

 ness that should not escape the atlfiition of uui 

 institutions, created for the purpose of meliorating 

 the agriculture of our country. 



The following are the articles above alluded to. 



The art »f making good butler is well known, 

 but people generally will not pr;ictise it ; and for 

 such it is useless to publish any improvements. In 

 order to be wise, it is necessary to Icnow both 



