384 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



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BOSTOiN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1837. 



FAKMER'S WORK. 



It is an injury to pastures to turn in cattle too early 

 in the spring ; and most hurtful to those lots in which 

 the grass springs earliest, as in those which are low and 

 wet, in which the grass comes forward soonest. The 

 feet of the cattle early in spring destroy the young grass, 

 and cut up the sward in such a manner as to produce a 

 great amount of injury, without any benefit to the cat- 

 tle ; as tlip little food thoy can obtain from the grass 

 just sprouting, servos sr-arcely any o'licr purpose than 

 to cause them to scour. The grass in pastures should 

 be so far grown before cattle are admitted, that they can 

 fill themselves without rambling jver the whole ground. 

 The "^Oth of May is quite early enough in common sea- 

 sons to turn cattle into almost any of our New England 

 pastures. Out of some, they should be kept still later. 

 The drii'sl pastures should be used first, though in them 

 the grass is shortest, that the breaking of the sward by 

 the cattle's feet may hot take place to any great ex- 

 lent. 



It is recommended not to turn all sorts of uallle into 

 pastures at once. Milch cows, working oxen and fat- 

 ting beasts should be indulged with the first feeding of 

 a pasture ; afterwards sheep and horses may take their 

 turn. When a lot is thus fed off, it should be shut up, 

 and the dung which has been drnp|i d should be beaten 

 to pieces, and well scattered. After.vards, a second lot 

 may be opened and treated in the same manner, and so 

 on in rotation, from one inclosiire to another, giving 

 each inclosure some time to recruit; taking care, as far 

 as possible, to feed the dr est pastures first, so that the 

 sward may be the loss injured by the treading of the 

 eatlle. 



Something consider.nble i.s s.TVcd by letting different 

 sorts of grazing animals take their turn in a pasture. — 

 By this means, nearly all the herbage will be eaten; 

 much of which would oihen^ise be lost. Horses will 

 eat the le.-ivings oC horned cattle; and sheep will cat 

 some things which both the others leave. 



If swine are turned into a pasture, they should havj 

 rings on their noses, unless it is an object to employ 

 those animals in rODting out brakes and other weeds 

 which they consume for food. If they are allowed the 

 first of the feed, tliey will defile the grass, so that the 

 horses and cattle will reject it. 



Let the stock of a farmer he gieater or less, he 



should have at least four inclosures o( pasture land. 



One inclosure may be fed two weeks, and then shut np 

 to grow, and then another. Each one will recruit well 

 in six weeks, and eacih will have that time to recruit.— 

 But in the latter part rtf October, the cattle may range 

 through all the lots, unless some one may become too 

 wot and soft. In this case it ouglij to be shut up, and 

 kept till feeding time .the next year. 



So different is the appetite of JjlTerent animals, that 

 there is scarcely any plant which is not eaten by some, 

 and rejected by others. The following are said to be 

 facts, which have been ascertained in Holland.— When 

 eight cows have been in a pasture, and can no longer 

 obtain nourishment, two horses will do very well there 

 for some davs, and when nothing is left for the horses, 

 four sheep will live upon it; this not only proceeds 

 from their diff-eringiu the choice of plants, but from the 

 formation of their mouths, which arc not 

 ted to lay hold of the grass. 



Although small p,-)stures are recommended for pa 



; equally adap- 



turing neat cattle and horses, yet Mr Loudon observes 

 that " Large inclosures are in general best adapted fof 

 sheep. These animals are not only impatient of heat, 

 and liable to be much injured by flies, in small pastures 

 often surrounded by trees and high hedges, but they are 

 naturally, with the exception, perhaps, of the Leicester 

 variety, much more restless and easily disturbed, than 

 any other species of livestock. 'Sheep,' says Lord 

 Kaimes, ' love a wider range, and ought to have it, be- 

 cause they delight in short grass; give them eighty or 

 ninety acrees, and any fence will keep them in ; con- 

 fine them to a field of seven or eight acres, and it must 

 be a very strong fence that keeps them in.' — [Gentle- 

 man's Farmer, p. 203 ] Though fields so large as 80 

 or 90 acres, can be advisable only in hilly districts, yet 

 the general rule is neverlhless consistent with experi- 

 ence." 



Leersi& OnvzoiDEs. — Leersia oryzoides. Rouo-h 

 Leersia. Synon. Sandly's grass. Triandia Trigynia. 

 Gramme. This is a perennial grass, which, according 

 to Loudon, grows two feet high, and to the culture or 

 which, much attention has of late been paid in South 

 Carolina. Through the politeness of Dr S Blanding. 

 of Columbia, S. C, we have been furnished with a 

 small quantity of seed, which we shall distribute with 

 pleasure te our friends and patrons who are disposed to 

 test its qualities in our climate. Dr Blanding has fur- 

 nished us with the following account of its culture. 



" The seed of the Leersia oryzoides has be en brought 

 into cultivation by Mr Richard Sandly of this place — 

 He says the first year it has to be cultivated in drills, or 

 it will be overrun by other grasses, but after that it will 

 take care of itself, and he cuts three crops in a season 

 from it. The soil which suits it is a moist or wet one, 

 which cannot be brought into ordinary tillage. The 

 hay from it, is fine fur stock, and sells in this market 

 readily at a good price. Your frier ds in the country 

 will soon lest its value. 1 have not seen it growing, as 

 Mr Sandly's plantation is 40 miles from Columbia." 



We take this opportunity to give a brief account of 

 the method recommended by one of the first economists 

 in Europe for raising rare grasses. In a quarter of the 

 garden a spot should be seh-cted in such a situation, 

 that it will not be exposed to mix with other kinds of 

 grass, flovverin;; at the same time. A bed four feet wide 

 should be prepared by digging and manuring, in which 

 four drills should be tnade lengthways of the bed; in 

 these, the seed should be sown. The young plants 

 should be kept free from weeds, and the seeds collected 

 when ripened. This also gives a fair chance for observ- 

 ing the qualities and peculiarities of the grass. J. B. 



Hints for Armr..— Wheat, which has been injured 

 by the heaving of the frost, has in some cases, been crreat- 

 ly benefited by p.issing a roller over it, thus pressing the 

 roots again into the earth. 



New meadows should be rolled in the spring, to ren- 

 der the surfice smooth t'or mowing. 



Phster, to be beneficial to the gre.uest extent, should 

 be sown on meadows early in the spring. 



Green sward, in order to be turned over neatly, should 

 have the furrow slices one half wider than thick. 



Seed barley, by being limed and rolled in plaster, has 

 produced crops fieer from smut in consequence of this 

 operation, and yielded larger products. 



The planting of locust trees for timber, should be 

 more attended to. The seeds when sown, should be 

 previously scalded by pouring hot water on them and 

 suffering it to stand for several hours— the swollen ones 



APRll., 86. I8jy, 



should then be planted, and the others rcscalded.— Gen- 

 esee Farmer. 



On the Culture of Peas— A writer in the Genesee 

 Farmer, observes, that the custom used to be among 

 farmers to sow three or four bushels of peas to the acre, 

 and they usually obtained about fifteen bushels; that 

 some years ago, he went from home, directing his far- 

 mer to sow two acres of peas just as he sowed wheat, 

 having reference to the manner of sowing in drills or 

 broadcast. The farmer, supposing that he had reference 

 to the quantity, sowed only one and a quarter bushels 

 to the acre. On returning, he found his peas very thin 

 and let it go for an experiment, and it proved to be a 

 profitable one; for he harvested 70 1-2 bushels. He 

 has since followed out the experiment, and generally 

 gels about twenty fold. The writer disapproves of sow- 

 ing oats among peas, as the oats weaken the pea vines 

 and lessen the crop. He thinks that peas are a good 

 substitute for Indian Corn in feeding cattle horses 

 sheep and swine, and observes that they produce better 

 in cold seasons than in hot. — Yankee Farmer. 



Prepari.no Seed Wheat —There are many meth- 

 ods of preparing wheat to sow. The method adopted 

 by Mr Williams of Filchburg, who has been very suc- 

 cessful in raising this crop, is, to mix a suflSciency of 

 thick while wash, made from good lime, to coat over 

 every kernel, s.ay two quarts to a bushel of seed ; lyn 

 from wood ashes, will answer as well, except the sow- 

 ing cannot be peiformed so evenly. He has never been 

 troubled with smut on a crop thus pre|)nred. Twenty 

 bushels of wood ashes to the acre, to be strown on the 

 wheat plants when two inches out of the ground is ben- 

 eficial. 



The trilling expense of a preparation of this kind, 

 would doubtless be amply remunerated. 



To the Agricpltural Interest.— It was with no 

 ordinary feelings of pleasure, tha- we announced in our 

 paper of the 15th inst., the formation of an Agricultural 

 Society in this place, which we sincerely hope is the 

 precursor of many similar Institutions in .this fine sec- 

 tion of the Province. 



The Society met on Thursday evening last, and elec- 

 ted th.e following gentlemen office bearers for the current 

 year, viz: J. W. Harris, Esq President ; A. Patterson, 

 Esq. Vice President; R. Dawson, Treasurer; J. Daw- 

 son, Secretary; Matthew Patterson, M. J. Wilkins 

 Esq., D. Eraser, D. Hockin and J. D. B. Eraser, Com-' 

 m'Mec.—l'ictou (jV. S.) Bee. 



Medicated Coffee for Children.— Senna Coff"ee. 

 A singular preparation for children is recommended in 

 the Bulletin General de Therapeutique, as one admira- 

 bly calculated for the exhibition of senna, without 

 out inducing nausea or disgust. An infusion of senna 

 is to be made in water and allowed to stand all ni»ht 

 the liquid is to be filtered in the morning, and employed 

 instead of water, in making a cup of coffee, to which a 

 proportionate quantity of milk and sugar should be ad- 

 ded. 



A New Invention for Hammering Stone. Mr 



Mighill Nutting of Portland, Maine, has exhibited to us 

 a miniature model of a machine of liis own invention 

 which promises to be of immense importance in archi- 

 tecture, as it will ultimately reduce the price of stone 

 as a building material, so low as to become a substitute 

 altogether for brick or wood. — Portland pn. 



