228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 







they worked at topping Swedes and raising them, 

 and at night he actually offered the men the roots 

 housed for their wages, and was refused." He 

 also states that a neighbor, who raised two acres 

 paid enough for extra day-labor in harvesting, be- 

 sides his regular hired men and team, to amount 

 to 20 cents per bushel for the whole crop. He 

 also says that his experience is, that, after a crop 

 of corn is ready to garner, it will cost more than 

 the corn will fetch in market to hire it harvested 

 by ordinary day-laborers. This he acknowledges, 

 to be a specimen of Gentleman Farming. In con- 

 trast to which he cites the case of a neighbor who 

 does his own work, is independent of circamstan- 

 ces and men, has fine buildings, good fruit, early 

 crops ; in fact, perfect order, neatness and thrift 

 are the characteristics of that thirty-acre farm. 



TOPDKESSING GRASS LANDS. 

 It is the practice of many farmers to topdress 

 their grass lands with composted manure as soon 

 as they conveniently can after getting off the hay 

 crop. It is a good practice. The manure pro- 

 tects the roots a little from the rays of the sun, 

 and the first shower washes some of its nutritious 

 properties into the soil and about the roots of the 

 grass, so that they are stimulated to throw out 

 new sets of leaves, which afford a still further pro- 

 tection, both to plants and the manure. The sur- 

 face is also sufficiently hard in summer to allow 

 the teams to pass over it without cutting ruts, or 

 being poached by the feet of the animals drawing 

 the load. 



We refer to this matter at this particular time 

 in order to suggest to those who have grass lands 

 newly laid down, — that is, that have been mowed 

 only one or two years, — not to postpone the ap- 

 plication of some sort of dressing, if they desire 

 to continue cutting a remunerative crop for sever- 

 al years. The mistake made by most farmers is, 

 in postponing the topdressing too long. If clover 

 is allowed to seed, and is then cut, the roots die 

 and there can be no further crop from them. If 

 the clover is cut while in blossom, there will be a 

 second crop the same year, and perhaps two crops 

 the succeeding year, if the land is rich. Red top 

 and herds grass will continue longer than clover, 

 but the roots of both of these gradually die out, 

 or yield to stronger grasses, until the whole crop 

 is changed from the sweet and nutritious grasses 

 jus't named, to the wiry "June grass," weeds, or 

 some other plants of little value. All this comes 

 from not topdressing in season. If this were 

 done, even though but slightly, after the first crop 

 is cut, and afterwards, each year, the roots of the 

 grasses sowed would be kept in a vigorous condi- 

 tion, and our mowing fields would not "run out" 

 as they do now. Under such a practice, moist, 

 and naturally good lands would yield a ton or a 



ton and a half of hay per acre for eight or ten 

 years in succession, with more certainty than they 

 now yield two-thirds that amount. 



A neglect of this important item of farm work 

 brings a train of losses that should be avoided. 

 In the first place, the farmer, feeling that he can- 

 not afford to plow so often, allows the field to re- 

 main in grass for several year3, when he gets but 

 a scanty crop, not half, perhaps, what the land is 

 capable of producing under skillful cultivation. 

 The next expense incurred is that of plowing and 

 preparing the soil, and the cost of seed to stock it 

 again. These are all expensive, and if their fre- 

 quency could be lessened one-half or one-third, 

 the saving would amount to a handsome sum in a 

 twenty years' practice. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SHEEP HUSBANDRY— No. 6. 



One reason assigned by some farmers for not 

 keeping sheep is the expense of fencing. We 

 have said in a former article, that he is a poor 

 farmer who does not keep sheep ; and we always 

 say, when we see poor, tumble down fences, that 

 the owner is a poor farmer, and has poor land to 

 farm ; for if land is not worth fencing it certainly 

 is not worth farming. 



An ordinary fence, sufficient to turn the gener- 

 ality of cattle, would be all that would be required 

 to turn, with the addition of a rail, that class of 

 sheep which would be most profitable for a farm- 

 er in this section to keep. Mr. Charles G. Davis 

 says in his report : "A few sheep were formerly 

 kept in remote corners of Plymouth county, most- 

 ly known as native sheep, with long legs and nar- 

 row breasts ; wool of all varieties on the same 

 carcass except the fine grades, with straight hair 

 protruding from the more substantial level of the 

 woolly matting. These sheep could run like deer, 

 and jump or climb a four-rail fence. The major- 

 ity of our farmers had been brought up with the 

 idea that stone walls and common fences would 

 not restrain sheep ; and they judged rightly of 

 such as were known to them. We have now 

 among us many flocks, small in number, which 

 are easily confined by a good wall or a three-foot 

 fence, close enough to prevent their crawling 

 through. Sheep raised for mutton, as in Eng- 

 land — and it is for mutton principally that they 

 must in a series of years be raised here — are quiet 

 and lazy." A good four feet and a half fence 

 would turn the heavy, long wooled sheep without 

 a rail. But in this section of country, where stone 

 is so abundant, we should be in favor of a deep 

 wall under the surface to drain off the water and 

 out of the way of the frost, and six feet high 

 above the surface, so that during those cold and 

 driving storms good shelter would be afforded the 

 cattle and sheep, and such shelter in the spring 

 would be of incalculable value to the raiser of 

 lambs ; and which the farmer would fully appre- 

 ciate after seeing the beneficial effects upon his 

 stock for a few seasons. What an advantage it 

 would be in early spring to have the southerly 

 side of such a fence, with a sweet, fresh grass for 

 the ewes and lambs to crop while enjoying the 

 genial rays of the sun, shielded from the bleak, 



