308 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



already gone home\yard, the senior of his party 

 was observed to have returned to the city, a dis- 

 tance of several hundred miles ; he lurked about 

 for some days ; subsequently it was discovered 

 that he had inquired for the stables where the 

 mare was kept ; she was found poisoned, and he 

 had disappeared. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HUNGARIAN GRASS. 



My Dear Brown : — I notice in your paper of 

 March 29th, an article on Hungarian Grass, and 

 as all subjects have two sides, it is perfectly prop- 

 er that both should he presented. 



This grass was introduced into our vicinity some 

 fev.' years since, and so loudly were its merits ])ro- 

 claimed that many of our farmers were induced 

 to test its value on their own premises. Being as 

 ignorant of the market ])ricc of seed as they were 

 of the value of the article it Avould produce, they 

 purchased at double the above price, and ventured 

 on the experiment. "Hungarian grass" was then 

 the idea of the day. ]Mark the change ! Last 

 year there were but two individuals, so far as we 

 were informed, engaged in its culture. One of 

 these had a very small patch, the other was a deal- 

 er in the seed. The opinions of our farmers go 

 to show that, in their view, it will not pay. We 

 have no doubt, however, but there may be circum- 

 stances under which it will pay. What these are, 

 we don't know. The farmer must find out for 

 himself. He is the proper judge in the matter. 



But to the objections. It is an annual. Of 

 course it must be rcsown each spring. Conse- 

 quently, the ground must be ])lowed and har- 

 rowed — a labor that is not required for the com- 

 mon grasses. Mr. Richards gets "from 1.^ to 4 

 tons an acre." Here is quite a diflerence in yield, 

 probably caused by the quality of land, amount 

 of labor, and manure, and seed bestowed. The 

 plowing, sowing, harrowing and cost of seed can- 

 not be dispensed with. They are so many extras 

 for the crop. If the same quantity of manure 

 which is necessary to carry the quantity of crop 

 from 1^ to 4 tons on an acre is applied a top- 

 dressing on the meadow, is it not probable it will 

 increase the quantity of good Timothy and red- 

 top in about the same proportion ? ^Ve think it 

 would, for manure has a wonderful faculty of 

 making these grasses grow, and to make a beau- 

 tiful, fine hay, that all the cattle and sheep love, 

 and that they will thrive upon. We should de- 

 cidedly prefer this hay, for our stock, to the Hun- 

 garian, and so our farmers decide, who have tried 

 both. 



Then, the seed — "from 15 to 2.j bushels, M-eigh- 

 ing from 44 to 48 ]iounds per l)ushel." Allowing 

 2j bushels to the acre, at 44 pounds per bushel, you 

 have 1200 pounds of Hungarian seed to an acre. 

 Add to this Mr. Richards' 4 tons of grass, and 

 you have i)200 pounds, the ])r()duct of your acre. 

 Eight thousand of this is stalks and leaves. We 

 leave it to the observing farmer to decide the 

 quality of this amount of stalks and leaves, taken 

 from an acre of land. He, too, can decide wheth- 

 er it would be of a quality of food satisfactory to 

 his animals, and what the exhausting power of 

 such a crop would eff:?ct on his land. 



We have placed the most liberal estimate on 



the produce of this crop, on an acre of land. The 

 lower estimates are a ton and a half of grass ; 

 fifteen bushels of seed per acre. Any farmer can 

 judge from the extremes of production of other 

 crops, which of these will approach nearest to an 

 ctverage. 



"It requires much more drying than herdsgrass 

 does, when cut in bloom." Here, again, is extra 

 labor and risk of weather brought into the ex- 

 pense of the crop. How far all these extra ex- 

 penses and risks will go to diminish the value of 

 the crop, is a matter of consideration to the farm- 

 er, and should he duly estimated befoi-e he risks 

 too much. If the author of the article had given 

 us the expense of the crop, such as rent of land, 

 manure, seed and labor, and the value of the crop 

 by the ton or bushel, in comparison with herds- 

 grass or redtop, and the seed, as compared Avith 

 oats or buckwheat, he would have given your 

 readers a much better clue to the value of the 

 crop. 



"His horses and cattle are as ready for this, 

 when well cured, as they are for other good hay." 

 Ours are as ready for good oat straw, when prop- 

 erly cured, (especially if, like the Dutchman's 

 wheat straw, it is very poorly threshed,) and if 

 fed to them in proper times, as they are for hay. 

 So with corn-stalks, if they are well cured and 

 ])roperly fed, cattle will thrive on them, horses 

 like them, and are benefited by eating them, and 

 great burthens, both of the oats and corn-stalks, 

 can be taken from an acre. Yet we do not re- 

 commend them as crops for general culture for 

 the fodder they will produce, though we fully be- 

 lieve that an acre of oats, under equal circum- 

 stances, would give a much better return in amount 

 and quality of fodder, than an acre of Hungarian 

 grass, and we doubt not but experience would 

 confirm this opinion with every unprejudiced 

 farmer. Ax OX. 



Ajii-a 1, 1862. 



THE CORAL. 



Prof. Agassiz discourses principally concerning 

 the Coral in the ]VIay number of the Atlantic, re- 

 lating several interesting facts : — 



It is well known that all animals and plants 

 have the power of ap])ro])riating to themselves, 

 and assimilating the materials they need, each se- 

 lecting from the surrounding elements whatever 

 contributes to its well-being. The plant takes 

 carbon, the animal takes oxygen, each rejecting 

 what the other requires. We ourselves build our 

 bones with the lime that we find unconsciously 

 in the world around us ; much of our nourishment 

 sujjplies us with it, and the very vegetables we eat 

 have, perhaps, themselves been fed from some old 

 lime strata deposited centuries ago. We all rep- 

 resent materials that have contributed to construct 

 our bodies. Now Corals jjossess, in an extraor- 

 dinary degree, the power of assimilating to them- 

 selves the lime contained in the salt Avater around 

 them ; and, as soon as our little coral is established 

 on a firm foundation, a lime deposit begins to form 

 in all the walls of its body, so that its base, its 

 partitions, and its outer wall, Avhich in the Sea- 

 Anemone remain always soft, become perfectly 

 solid in the Polyp Coral, antl form a frame as hard 

 as bones. It may naturally be asked where the 



