1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEJUER. 



37i 



and I think it is now time that the subject 

 might be introduced again. The various 

 grasses which grow in our meadows are pe- 

 rennial, and when we seed down a piece of 

 ground for meadow with the kind of grass we 

 wish to grow there, or even if good grasses 

 come in without seeding, it is very important 

 that the same plants should continue to grow 

 healthy and vigorously year after year, and 

 produce thick and heavy crops, free from 

 weeds or thin and almost barren places. 



Now it is self-e\identthat if weeds and other 

 plants can be exterminated by mowing, that 

 there are especially some stages in the growth 

 of grass in which meadows may be injured by 

 mowing. At what time, then, can it be cut 

 with the least injury to the plant itself? In 

 cutting timber it is usually observed that young 

 and thrifty trees throw up sprouts from their 

 stumps much more vigorously than larger and 

 older ones ; also when cut in the winter pre- 

 ceding, or during the growing season, than in 

 the autumn when it is just over with. Farmers 

 usually take advantage of this fact in cutting 

 bushes, and wait until the season's growth is 

 completed. It then gives the vitality of the 

 root such a shock, it being at this time in an 

 exhausted state after its utmost exertions are 

 fairly over with, that its constitution is irrepar- 

 ably ruined. Not only in cutting bushes, but 

 in cutting weeds, is the same principle found 

 by practice to be true ; and by cutting them 

 at this season great headway is made in their 

 extermination. 



Why can we not apply the same principle to 

 our faithful grass plants in the meadow? Why 

 should we let them become grown up, and 

 their forces all expended, and then ruthlessly 

 cut down all, trusting to luck to retain even 

 one spark of life in them? Would it not be 

 better to prune them graciously and in season ? 

 Why should we wait till our grass is all what 

 is styled "Mt to cut," (that is, its greatest de- 

 gree of perfection for fodder attained) before 

 a single stroixe is cut. and more than half can 

 not be harvested until it gets too ripe ? It is 

 true perhaps, that more weight is attained then 

 than when cut when two-thirds or three-quar- 

 ters grown, but is it really worth so much for 

 milk or lor fat? and besides do we not get it 

 all in a second crop or aftermath ? Then again 

 are we not much safer against a drouth just 

 after ha} ing, M-hich has ruined irreparablv mil- 

 lions of these little roots in a late cut meadow ? 

 and further ar<; we not better prepared for a 

 vigorous and healthy growth the next season ? 

 — S. N. Beers, in Country Gent. 



WORKING BULLS. 



I have one of Emery's endless chain pow- 

 ers to drive my hay cutter. My bull is an Al- 

 derney, two jears old, weighing a little over 

 900 pounds. I put on the brake and had him 

 led into the power, where he had a small leed 

 of oats given him. While he ate these he was 



groomed and caressed. Then, while he was 

 eating, the break was slacked a little, and as 

 the Hoor moved down, (slowly, so as not to 

 alarm him,) he stepped up to keep his muzzle 

 at the oats. At the fourth lesson, he walked 

 an hour, and cut hay enough to last my stock 

 — some eighteen head in all — two or three 

 days. 



We have not had the slightest trouble, and 

 so much does he appear to like the exercise, 

 and the pleasant remembrance of the reward 

 of good behavior, that I shall not be surprised 

 if, when he happens to find the door open, he 

 should go in and "run the machine" on his 

 own account. I intend to put up a circular 

 saw and let him cut my fire-wood. 



Now for the advantages. The pampering 

 and confinement which makes a horse run away, 

 will, in time, make a bull devilish. The work 

 I give him re(iuires no harnessing ; it is only 

 an hour's walk up a hill of 13° elevation. It 

 gives him an outlet for his superfluous spirits, 

 It keeps him "in hand" and gentle, it wears 

 away the growth of his hoofs, develops his 

 muscle and improves his health. Have I not 

 a right to expect my herd to be benefited by 

 such management? I thought so before 1 

 knew Prof. Agassiz's opinion. — Cor. Country 

 Gentleman. 



Prevention of Second Sw.vrms. — "A 

 Beginner" inquires the best way to prevent 

 second swarms or after-swarming. 



He will find that if he removes the hive which 

 has swarmed, or from which he has taken a 

 swarm, to a new location, some distance off, 

 say a dozen yards, he will not be troubled 

 with after-swarms from it, because it will lose 

 so many of its old bees that few remain who 

 have the "swarming fever." 



I advise this way with all confidence, for 

 Italian colonies. I have tried it for several 

 seasons, with them, and never had it fail. I 

 have an impression that the common bees may 

 sometimes lose too many bees if removed so 

 flir, though a correspondent informs me that 

 he has, by my advice, so moved his common 

 bees, and they did not lose too man3\ I have 

 noticed that the Italians are quicker to find 

 their old home when it is removed, if it has 

 any distinctive color or marking about it, than 

 the black bees. — Mrs. Tupper, in Frairie 

 Farmer. 



— Hiram Bartlett, in a late address before the 

 Ohio Dairymen's Association, made the following 

 statement : The amount of capital invested in the 

 dairy business of Ohio, is estimated at .^264,628,- 

 850, of which the cows, at ^50 each, amount to 

 #34,516,750 ; the land at $50 per acre, #207,101,100 ; 

 teams and implements, #23,011,000. In 1865, the 

 number of milch cows in Ohio was 695,337 ; the 

 butter product, 32,554,835 pounds, and the cheese 

 product, 16,940,213 pounds. 



