1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



341 



■wherever they could find a stake or tree to mn 

 upon, and where they could not, have run among 

 themselves on the ground! The vines are now 

 as green as in July, and continue to blossom on 

 their top ends, vp in the sky ! Near their routs, 

 there are many well-filled pods, and other pods of 

 various growth continue till they reach the blos- 

 soms. Is there anything but King Frost that will 

 etop them ? How can they be harvested ? Who 

 will inform me ? 



I am truly yours, SiMON Bbown. 



MiasBs. NeuRSE, Eatox & Tolmas. 



For the Near England Farmer. 



GRASS. 



An Essay read by MInqt Pratt, before tbe Concord Farmers' 

 Club 



Mr. President : — The importance of the grass 

 croj) to this country is so well understood, that it 

 is not worth while to say much about it now and 

 here. If I say that its annual value in the United 

 States has been estimated to exceed $300,000,000, 

 I shall name a fact that only the most thriving of 

 farmers can fully appreciate. Probably in this 

 town no other crop equals it in value ; and on very 

 many farms it exceeds all others ])ut together. As 

 the population and wealth of the country increase, 

 there will be an undoubted necessity that this crop, 

 as well as others, should increase in at least an 

 equal ratio. It becomes then an important ques- 

 tion how this increase shall be brought about. 

 Shall it be by devoting a larger area to its cultiva- 

 tion ? That may be dope to some extent, but our 

 hoed crops, our grain crops, and our wood crops 

 will then suffer. There are other ways in which 

 the amount of our grass may be largely increased, 

 and at tlie same time be made to give the means 

 of greatly increasing all other products of the 

 farm. By cultivating those species that yield the 

 largest growth, and of the best quality, by liber- 

 ally ap])lying to the soil the best fertilizers, by 

 draining fields now so saturated with cold and 

 sour moisture that no respectable grass will con- 

 sent to grow there, and by adapting different spe- 

 cies of grass to the most favorable soils we may 

 have, it is quite likely the maximum will not be 

 reached till the aggregate of our crops is at least 

 trebled. 



This may, to some, seem an extravagant esti- 

 mate, but I believe it to l)e more than ])ossil)le, 

 and desire that it should be taken as my deliberate 

 prophecy of what is yet to be realized by many 

 farmers of Concord, who will intelligently and res- 

 olutely set about it. 



Strictly speaking, as botanists have classified 

 plants, the term grass includes only those plants 

 which have long, single narrow leaves, each leaf 

 having many fine veins, or raised lines, running 

 parallel with a central ])romiiient vein, and a long 

 sheath that clasps the stem ; the stem being usu- 

 ally hollow, and divided into separate sectinns by 

 what arc properly called j )ints. Timothy, red-top, 

 oats, rye, millet, are familiar examples. I5ut as 

 the clovers and some other plants nearly related 

 to them, are usually counted among the grasses, 

 and are excellent forage cro))s, I shall take the lib- 

 erty to include them as belonging to the sulyect 

 •which is iH'fore us for discussion this evening. 



It is important to decide, in tlu; fuRt place, what 



grasses are worthy of cultivation. In this neigh- 

 borhood the general opinion seems to be in favor 

 of timothy, red-top and clover. Indeed, I am not 

 aware that any other grass is cultivated to any 

 considerable extent for permanent mowing. There 

 are other grasses, which, on favorable soils, and 

 for special purposes, may be more profilal)le ; and 

 I am inclined to the opinion that the sowing of a 

 greater variety of seeds together, even if the si)e- 

 'cies are a little inferior to tiie best, both for mow- 

 ing permanent pasture lands, would be to our ad- 

 vantage. The law is as imperative that cattle shall 

 not live by clover alone, as that "Man shall not 

 live by bread alone" — taken in a physiological 

 sense. Cattle often manife.st their preference for 

 a variety of food, and as that doire is easily grat- 

 ified, and tends to keep them in better health, it 

 is better to indulge them. If any one grass alone 

 is best for the animal, it is a pity that Nature h.is 

 taken pains to mix up so large a variety, pos.ses3- 

 ing such difi'erent qualities. Besides, where 

 grasses of different si)ecies grow together, a larg- 

 er numl>er of plants, and therefore more weight of 

 forage, will grow on a given space, than where 

 there are only one or two. On much of our New 

 Enghind soil. Nature assists us in this matter, by 

 mixing in a considerable variety, though we may 

 sow but one sort of seed, iii'.t if we would take 

 the business into our own hands, perhaps we could 

 improve on Nature, by selecting some of the best 

 varieties that we can find, instead of accepting the 

 often comparatively poor sorts which she chooses 

 to offer us. A square foot of rich pasture has been 

 found by careful counting, to contain 1000 plants, 

 of 20 different species. A square foot of irrigated 

 field contained 1798 plants. Sods from three oth- 

 er fields six years old, with a single species on 

 each, contained respectively l)ut 1U2, 90, and 75 

 plants to the .square foot. Now as different spe- 

 cies of plants do, to a considerable extent, take 

 different food from the soil, or in different propor- 

 tions, no one element of fertility which the soil 

 may contain, will be so soon exhausted where 

 there is a variety ; and among the variety we shall 

 be likely to get one or more sorts to which the 

 soil is well adapted. In arranging for mowing 

 lands, care should be taken to select varieties of 

 grass which mature at nearly the same time; 

 while for pastures the rule should be just the re- 

 verse, as there we want to keep a succession of 

 feed for the whole season. In both cases it wouUl 

 be well that a part, at least, of Uie varieties sown 

 should have the habit of freely .sending up a sec- 

 0!ul growth, after being croi)ped. Grasses difler 

 much in this respect. Orchard grass, blue gras.<, 

 the clovers, Italian rye grass, tall oat grass, may 

 be named as having this habit. 



IJut there may be some difficulty in procuring 

 seeds for this desirable variety, as our custom of 

 using but few sorts has not encouraged seedsmen 

 to procure and koe]) on hand any but the few most 

 commonly called for. Others can be obtained, 

 but as tlie rule seeins to be that seeds once pur- 

 chased, must he sold cither before a new stock is 

 sought for, or else mixed with the new, the less 

 common seeds are not so reliable as those for 

 which the demand is certain and regular. IJut I 

 think that in addition to iimotlnj and red-top, we 

 might find the hlue grass, and tatl oat grass, and 

 they would be worth trying. The Italian riia 

 gras^i might al.so be worthy of trial. In all i>arta 



