vot,. X:ill. NO. 30. 



AND HOllTICOLTUrlAL JOURNAL. 



157 



tAVING DOWJV GRASS Li.VNUS. 



In 1825, the Massacluiselts Agriculturul Society 

 awanlerl a preiiiiuui of .s30 to tlie Rev. Worrill 

 Ali.f.n, ("or Ills experiment to prove the best season 

 and Mioile of laying down lands to grass. The ful- 

 lovviuj; is Alien's statement : 



" Several di-appointnients in my expectation of 

 a Crop of Grass al'ier sowing the seed in the Spring 

 with Grain induced nje as early as tlie year 1807 

 to try tlie eflocts of Anmninal sowing; my first ex- 

 jierinnint was made on alionr 16 rods of land, a part 

 of which was sovveil in the month of Ocloher with 

 Ilye and Herds Grass, and llie resiiiiie with Herds 

 Grass seeil alone ; the cold weather did not com- 

 mence very early in lliat year, and hoth the Rye 

 and Grass had consiilerahly extended their lools 

 l)efore winter. In the following Snmmer, at the 

 time of reaping, the Grass had grown so tall among 

 the Rye that ninch of it was cut with the sickle ; 

 bnt it appeared less healthy and vigorons than the 

 Grass which was sowed alone ; this produced near- 

 ly a full crop the first year, and endured unusually 

 well afterwards. The next year the crop where 

 the Rye had hecn raised, appeared lo me to he 

 considerahly better than usual after Spring sowing 

 with grain, hut less than on the other part ; the 

 r(-sult of this experiment encouraged me lo sow 

 Grass seed in the Fall, find without Grain. In 

 several successive years I ploughed and sowed my 

 fields after Indian Harvest; the crops were gener- 

 ally much more abundant than Spring sowing; but 

 in some ijislances when the Autiunn proved cold, 

 the first crop was imperlect, and internfixed with 

 some weeds ; I supposed earlier sowing would be 

 more certainly successful ; and in 1820, about an 

 acre and a quarter of land, which had been naked 

 fallovve<l, was soweil with Herds Grass and Red 

 Clover, between the 1st and 20th of September. 

 In 1621, the Herds Grass was ripe for cutting; 

 at the lisual season, the 1.5tli of July, it was 

 imusually tall, but not so thick set as in subse- 

 quent years ; very little of Clover a|)|)eared the first 

 year; it increased in the second imd third years; 

 the usual order seemed to be exactly reversed in 

 this instance. When Clover and Herds Grass are 

 sowed with Spring Grain, the first crop is chiefly 

 Clover ; afterwards there is a greater proportion of 

 Herds Grass ; this circumstance has led many farm- 

 ers to the conclusion that it requires more time to 

 establish the roots of Herds Grass in the earth, and 

 prepare them to produce a fidl crop, than it does 

 the rootsof Clover ; every experiment I have made 

 has tended to prove this a wrong conclusion, and 

 that Herds glass naturally comes forward earlier 

 than Clover — the reason why the appearance has 

 so often been otherwise, probably is the obstruc- 

 tion produced by the Grain crop on the growth of 

 Grass ; the Clover being a tap-rooted plant, is not 

 so much obstructed as the Herds grass ; and draw- 

 ing some of its noufishment from a greater depth, 

 it soon ascends the injury ; miobstriictcd by Grain, 

 I have observed that Herds grass always takes the 

 lead of Clover in its growth. In the Spring of 

 1823 I ploughed about three acres of land on 

 which Indian corn grew the preceding year ; near- 

 ly half the ficKl was a cold clayey soil, ami the 

 residue a gravelly knoll ; it was sowed the 1st of 

 May with Oats, Herds grass, and Clover seed ; an- 

 other field of 3 acres, the soil clayey, ami apparently 

 of the same quality with the low part of the other 

 field, was naked fallowed ; it was ploughed 4 or 5 

 times, and sowed with Herds grass and Clover, the 

 I 1st Sept. ; the comparison could properly he made 



oidy between the low part of the first field, and this 

 where there was no perceivable dillerence in the 

 character of the soils ; in 1824 the quantity of hay 

 per acre on the land sowed in the fidl was at least 

 double to that ou the land sowed in the spring, 

 and with grain ; the past season the difference 

 was not as great, yet very observable. The same 

 experiment was repeated in 1824 on about 4 acres 

 of light sandy soil ; the seed on the fallowed land 

 in that year was sowed the last of August : the 

 season was uncomm only dry ; and where oats 

 were sowed scarcely any herds-grass appeared the 

 past season ; but that part sowed with grass-seed 

 alone produced a good crop for light soil, and at 

 this time there appears to be on it a sufiicient 

 number of grass plants, while the other part of the 

 field looks like exhausted land. From the. results 

 of these several experiments I am led to believe 

 the best lime to commit grass seed to the earth, is 

 from the 15th of August to the 15th of September ; 

 this time seems to accord with tlie intentions of 

 nature, it is the season of ripeness in the seed, 

 when it spontaneously falls on the ground ; grass 

 seed which is sowed in the last of summer or the 

 beginning of aniuiiin, is rarely if ever obstructed in 

 its early growth by drouth, which often proves des- 

 tructive to young jdants in the summer months; it 

 gets firm hold of the ground before winter, and in 

 the following springgrows more rapidly than grass 

 on land which has been hardened by the heat of 

 summer and the growth of a grain crop. Tlie 

 season which appears to me to he the best for sow- 

 ing grass seed, is far from being the most conve- 

 nient for farmers ; they cannot often do it at that 

 lime without loo little preparation of the soil to 

 receive seed, or the loss of one crop ; my experi- 

 ments have proved lo my own satisfaction, that 

 much later sowing is preferable lo spring sowing 

 with grain ; in one instance I prepared tlie land 

 late in the fidl, aud cast the seed on the snow with 

 very good success; on fields designed to be alter- 

 nately in grass and tillage, the common practice of 

 sowing grass seed in the s|iring with grain, may 

 consist with good husbandry, for as often as wel 

 seasons ensue, ihe grass will prosper tolerably 

 well, and in case of a drouth which destroys the 

 grass, the rotation may he changed without any 

 other loss than thai of the seed ; but on fields 

 which are unsuitable for frequent plonghings, 

 when we wished lo have the cultivated grasses re- 

 main as long as possible, and on sandy soils 

 where it is difficult to get a sufficient number of 

 grass plants established, the loss of a single crop 

 is trifling in comparison with the gain which will 

 be realized by sowing grass seed in the inoiuli of 

 August. In awarding this premium the Conimil- 

 tee do not mean to admit that the experimenl of 

 Mr. Allen proves conclusively that this is tlie best 

 method of laying down land to grass; but that the 

 labor and results of his several exiieriinerus induce 

 them to recommend that the premium be awarded 

 to him. 



■WARLIKE DISPOSITION OP MAN. 



Carthage, for the conquest of Sicily, 408 years 

 before our Saviour, made preparations for three 

 yeajs. The army consisted of 300,000, llie fleet 

 of 2000 men of war, and 3000 transports. By 

 the interposition of Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse, 

 at the investment of the city of Hymera, every man 

 was either killed or taken prisoner, and only eight 

 ships made their escape. 



The first Punic war lasted 24 years, the second 



17, and the third a little more than 4, when the 

 renowned city of Carthage, containing the immense 

 population of 700,000 human beings, was so com- 

 pletely burned that not a single house remained. 

 Being fired at all points, the conflagration was ter- 

 rible, and burned with prodigious fury for 17 days. 

 The pimider carried away by the Roman soldiers, 

 in precious metal, amounted to 4,470,000 lbs. of 

 silver. 



Julius Ctesar, in Germany, is said to have slaugh- 

 tered 400,000 men in one battle. — When Attila, 

 king of the Huns, was defeated at Chalons, 300,000 

 men perished. — But the most memorable devaeta- 

 tation of human life on record, which was melan- 

 choly beyond all jirecedent, was the memorable 

 army of Xerxes, marching into Greece. It con- 

 sisted of 5,283,220, according to all ancient au- 

 thorities. Nearly the whole of the mammoth col- 

 lection of soldiers were entirely destroyed. It was 

 equal to the entire male population of the United 

 States. 



ANTiaUlTY OF CARRIER PIGEONS. 



OviD, ill his Metamorphoses, assures us tliat 

 Taurosthenes, by a carrier jiigeon, which he had 

 stained wiih purple, gave notice of his having 

 been victorious at the Olympic games, the same 

 day, lo his father, who resided at ^giiia. I'liny, 

 too, thai wonder-searching man, from whose phi- 

 losophical observation and scrutiny nothing seems 

 to have escaped, informs us that during the siege 

 of Modena, by Mark Antony, pigeons were em- 

 ployed by Brutus to keep up a correspondence 

 with the besieged. 



Wlien the city of Ptolemais, in Syria, was in- 

 vested by the French and Venetians, ami on the 

 point of falling, the soldiers observed a pigeon fly- 

 ing over, which they rightly conjectured was a 

 bearer of des|)atclies. A tremendous shout was 

 instantly made by the whole army, which so fright- 

 ened the little flying post, that it fell to the ground 

 near by. Under one of its wings was the follow- 

 ing note from the Sultan : ' I will be with you in 

 three days, with an army that will he sufficient lo 

 raise the siege.' Another, of which the following 

 is a copy, was substituted, and the pigeon permit- 

 ted to go on : ' The garrison must see to their own 

 safety, for the Sultan has such other affairs press- 

 ing, thai it is im|iossible to render assistance.' The 

 garrison gave up at once. — Scitntijic Tracts. 



From Loudon's Gardener' s Magazine. 

 OXAL.IS CRENATA. 



Should you have received any account of the 

 late exhibition at Falmoinb, on the 28lh ult. you 

 will have learned that one of the greatest difficulties 

 attending the cultivation of the Oxalis crenata has 

 been surmounted ; Mr. Pringle, the intelligent and 

 enterprising gardener of L. C. Daubiiz, Esq. of Tru- 

 ro, having upon thai occasion produced a dish of 

 the tubers of that plant, the grow lb of Ihe present 

 year, which was much admired both for size and 

 beauty. You will also have learned from thai re- 

 port (inserted in the IVtst Briton of the SOih May) 

 that Sir Charles Lemon, with that zeal for science 

 and that desire lo promote the interests of society, 

 for which he has ever been so honorably distin- 

 guished, has this year attempted the field culture 

 of these tubers upon a large scale : the result of so 

 important an experiment will not, I trust, be kept 

 from the public, even should its success fall short 

 of our most reasonable expectations. — Wm. Hamil- 

 ton, 15 Oxford Place, Plymouth, June 13, 1834- 



