1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



473 



a degree of fermentation before it is exposed to 

 the washing rains and the weather outside. Upon 

 the lower side, too, the cellar can be approached 

 with the team and carts, and material added to 

 the manure heap to absorb the urine and add to 

 the general stock, or to rentier the whole easy of 

 access for hauling away. 



"A barn thus arranged not only saves a great 

 amount of labor in hauling the hay, &c., in stack- 

 ing and feeding, but the quality is greatly pre- 

 served by being housed at once after it is cured. 

 Add to these advantages the still more important 

 consideration — the comfort and thrift secured to 

 the animals in consequence of the protection af- 

 forded from the storms of winter, and it will be 

 found that no more profitable investment can be 

 made connected with the farm than in the con- 

 struction of a suitable barn." — Homestead. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE IMPKOVEMENT OF OLD PASTtTSES. 



A fine Field of Potatoes— Winter Wheat grown on old Pasture 

 Land, with the use of Bone Dust. 



The improvement, within a reasonable cost, of 

 the old run-out pastures of New England, is, to 

 my mind, an interesting subject, and one of the 

 most important branches of cultivation our farm- 

 ers can undertake. Having had my attention di- 

 rected to this subject for several years, I have 

 been induced to try various methods for the reno- 

 vation of such lands — the results of some of which 

 have been given in former communications to the 

 Farmer. Several interesting improvements of 

 these lands are now in progress in my immediate 

 neighborhood ; and having to-day visited some 

 of the fields either already made productive as 

 pasture, or undergoing tillage, to bring them into 

 that condition, it is now my purpose to give the 

 details, in part, of what was observed. In a com- 

 munication to the Farmer, in August or Septem- 

 ber of the year 1856, I described a tract of sixty 

 or more acres of worn-out pasture-land, then re- 

 cently purchased by our Vermont Asylum, the 

 improvement of which had become a desirable ob- 

 ject, and one in which, from some ofiicial connec- 

 tion with the Institution, I felt an active interest. 

 This tract lies more or less rolling, but nowhere 

 so steep, or uneven, as to be inconvenient, or ob- 

 jectionable for plowing. The improvements com- 

 menced upon it five years ago have been steadily 

 progi'essing since, in pieces of ten to fifteen acres 

 each, until some of them now have sufficient age 

 to give them a certain character, from which some 

 conclusions can safely be drawn. I shall first 

 speak of three fields comprised within this tract. 



The first piece looked at to-day, a field of about 

 fifteen acres, is now covered Avith a promising 

 crop of potatoes. The land was the oldest kind 

 of bound-out pasture, covered with moss, and a 

 feeble growth of inferior grasses, interspersed 

 with sweet fern, shrub pine, and other bushes. 

 The largest bushes were snaked out, root and 

 branch, by taking a chain-hitch to them with the 

 oxen ; and others were cut down to the ground, 

 and the little stumps turned under by the plow. 

 In November last, the large breaking-up plow, 

 drf.wn by fovir oxen, was started, and the land 

 turned over about eight inches deep, in the nicest 

 and most thorough style. In April last, it was 



harrowed, furrowed out in rows one way, three 

 feet and a half apart, and a shovel full of compost, 

 made of muck and ashes, was dropped once in 

 every three feet in the rows. The potatoes Avere 

 dropped upon the compost, and the planting fin- 

 ished about the 20th of April. The muck used 

 had lain in a large pile on dry land, for a year or 

 more ; and last fall it was composted with un- 

 I'jached ashes, using about throe bushels of ashes 

 to an ox-cart load, or one-third of a cord of muck. 

 After lying in a heap a few weeks, the compost 

 was shovelled over, and then carted upon the 

 plowed land, and deposited in heaps of ten to 

 twenty loads each, at convenient places for re- 

 loading and dropping in the hills at planting 

 time. 



The potatoes were hoed twice, using the horse 

 and cultivator between the rows at each hoeing. 

 Vhe tops have made a large and healthy growth ; 

 they stand about three feet high, and spread out 

 laterally, so as to touch each other from row to 

 row. The hills were examined to-day in various 

 parts of the field, and the potatoes found to be 

 large and sound, and promising a good yield. It 

 is well known, that of late years, our best pota- 

 toes usually come from these old pasture lands. 

 The varieties planted are the New Jersey Peach 

 Blow, the Davis Seedling, and the Prince Albert, 

 or St. Helena. The New Jersey Peach Blow, a 

 strong growing, healthy and excellent variety, 

 bears no resemblance to the kind commonly 

 known as Peach Blow throughout New England. 

 This piece of land is to be plowed again, late 

 this fall, and harrowed smooth and fine. On a 

 light snow in April following, it is to be liberally 

 seeded with red and white clover, herdsgrass and 

 red top seeds, for pasture. No grain is to be 

 sowed, as a crop of that kind would draw too 

 much from the land, and injure it materially for 

 pasturage. Besides, the grasses will catch better, 

 and sooner aff"ord a full bite of pasturage, if sown 

 alone, than they would if shaded and encumbered 

 with a grain crop. The old sward turned under, 

 and rotted and subdued by cultivation, will afford 

 nourishment to the new grasses, and thus secure 

 a productive pasture for several years. 



In November coming, some fifteen acres of ad- 

 joining land, similar to what this piece was, will 

 be plowed up, and next season manured and 

 planted with potatoes, and afterwards reeded 

 down to pasture. If, however, experience should 

 indicate that an additional stimulus to the land 

 would, on the whole, be advisable, then future 

 fields will be dressed with about 500 pounds of 

 bone dust per acre, at the time they are re-seeded 

 to pasture. 



The next field visited was a piece containing 

 twelve acres, plowed up five years ago, this pres- 

 ent month, and eight acres dressed with 400 

 pounds of bone dust per acre, two acres with SOk 

 pounds of Peruvian guano to the acre, and two 

 acres each with twenty bushels of unleached ashes, 

 and the land immediately stocked down with grass 

 for pasture, no grain crop being taken off". Hav- 

 ing spoken fully of this field in a communication 

 to the Farmer four years ago, and again two years 

 ago this present month, I need not now go into 

 particulars about it. Suffice it to say, that the 

 land has afforded excellent pasturage, ever since 

 it was thus dressed and re-seeded, and the cows 

 appear to be very fond of the herbage, for they 



