18G0. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



145 



mend it highly to the farmer's care, especially as 

 a pasture grass. As it blossoms earlier than Tim- 

 othy, and about the time of red clover, it makes 

 an admirable mixture Avith that plant, to cut in 

 the blossom and cure for hay. As a pasture grass 

 it should be fed close, both to prevent its forming 

 thick tufts and to prevent its running to seed, 

 when it loses a large proportion of its nutritive 

 matter, and becomes hard and wiry. All kinds of 

 stock eat it greedily when green. 



Judge Buel, distinguished as a man of taste, 

 said of this grass . "I should prefer it to almost 

 every other grass, and cows are very fond of it." 

 Elsewhere he says : "The American Cocksfoot or 

 Orchard Grass is one of the most abiding grasses 

 we have. It is probably better adapted than any 

 other grass to sow with clover and other seeds for 

 permanent pasture or for hay, as it is fit to cut 

 with clover and grows remarkably quick when 

 cropped by cattle. Five or six days' growth in 

 summer suffices to give a good bite. Its good 

 properties consist in its early and rapid growth, 

 and its resistance of drought ; but all agree that 

 it should be closely cropped. Sheep Avill pass 

 over every other grass to feed upon it. If suf- 

 fered to grow long without being cro])pcd it be- 

 comes coarse and harsh. Colonel Powell, (a late 

 eminent farmer of Pennsylvania,) after growing it 

 ten years, declares that it produces more pastur- 

 age than any other grass he has seen in America. 

 On being ftd very close, it has produced good 

 pasture after remaining five days at rest. It is 

 suited to all arable soils. Two bushels of seed 

 are requisite for an acre when sown alone, or half 

 this quantity when sown with clover. 



Orchard grass is less exhausting to the soil than 

 rye grass or Timothy. It will endure considera- 

 ble shade. In a porous subsoil its fibrous roots 

 extend to a great depth. Its habit of growth un- 

 fits it for a lawn grass. Its seed weighs twelve 

 pounds to the bushel, and to sow alone, about 

 twenty-four pounds to the acre are required to 

 make sure of a good crop. It should not be sown 

 alone except for the sake of raising the seed. It 

 is worthy of a much more extended cultivation 

 among us. 



WHITE CLOVER. 



White clover is widely diffused over this coun- 

 try and all the countries of Europe. It is indig- 

 enous probably both to England and America. 



When first cultivated from seed collected from 

 wild plants, at the beginning of the last century, 

 it was recorded of a farmer that he had "sowed the 

 wild white clover which holds the ground and de- 

 cays not." Its chief value is as a pasture grass, 



and it is as valuable for that purpose as the red 

 clover is for hay or soiling, though there are some 

 who place a low estimate upon it. It easily ac- 

 commodates itself to a great variety of soils, but 

 grows most luxuriantly in moist grounds and 

 moist or wet seasons. Indeed, it depends so much 

 upon a general distribution of rains through the 

 season, that when they are sufficiently abundant 

 it comes in profusely even where it was not ob- 

 served in other years, and hence such seasons pass 

 under the term of "clover years." It is not ap- 

 parently so much relished by stock as from its 

 sweetness we should be led to ex])ect, but it is, on 

 the whole, to be cherished for permanent pastures, 

 and improved, as it undoubtedly may be, by a 

 proper selection and culture of varieties. 



RED CLOVER. 



Red clover, though not properly included in 

 the family of grasses, is now not only extensively 

 cultivated, but is found to be one of the most val- 

 uable and economical 

 forage plants. It be- 

 longs to the pulse 

 family, or lecjumino- 

 scc, which includes 

 the larger portion of 

 forage plants called 

 artificial grasses, in 

 distinction from the 

 graminea?, the true, 

 and often called the 

 natural grasses. The 

 generic name, trefoil, 

 or trifolium, is de- 

 rived from the Latin 

 ires, three, and foli- 

 um, a leaf; and the 

 genus can generally 

 be very readily dis- 

 tinguished by thft 

 number and arrange- 

 ment of its leaves in 

 three leaflets, 

 and flowers in 

 dense, oblong 

 or globular 

 heads. 



Clover is very properly regarded as a fertilizer 

 of the soil. The action of its long and powerful 

 tap roots is not only mechanical — loosening the 

 soil and admitting the air — but also chemical, 

 serving to fix the gases important to enrich the 

 earth, and when these roots decay they add large- 

 ly to that black mass of matter we call the soil. It 

 serves, also, by its luxuriant foliage, to destroy 

 annual weeds which would spring up on newly 

 seeded land, especially after imperfect cidtivation. 

 Another great advantage in favor of the cultiva- 

 tion of clover consists in its rapid growth. But a 

 few months elapse from the sowing of the seed 

 before it yields, ordinarily, an abundant and nu- 

 tritious crop, relished by cattle of all kinds. 



Clover seed should always be sown in the 

 spring of the year, in the climate of New England. 

 It is often sown upon the late snov»-s of March or 

 April, and soon finds its way down to the soil, 

 where, aided by the moisture of early spring, it 

 quickly germinates and rapidly shoots up its leaf' 

 stalks. 



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