1871. 



^ NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



143 



benefit from the use of them, I believe they 

 should be incorporated with the compost heap, 

 where they seem to combine favorably with 

 the other materials of the heap, in a chemical 

 way that fits them to be taken up as foo<l by 

 the growing plants, — making the whole heap 

 richer and better by their addition. 



1 have grown the best crops of corn by 

 spreading manure liberally on top of grass 

 ground and ploughing it under just before 

 planting time, — my land being a ligiit, warm, 

 sandy loam, — putting a little compost, or 

 plaster and ashes, in the hill to give the corn 

 an early start. But for the last few years, I 

 have turned my attention more to growing 

 grass, and use the largest share of my manure 

 as a top-dressing for my mowing fields. The 

 result is less labor and more hay, which enables 

 me to keep more cattle. Consequently I grow 

 less corn and other gi'ain, and I think my 

 fields are coming up to a better state of tilth 

 than formei'ly. 



I have a few acres of light, warm, sandy 

 loam landj enclosed in my mowing fields, that 

 produce a light crop of red-top grass yearly, 

 which would produce good crops of corn and 

 rye and clover if liberally manured ; but s(s 

 yet I have not that article to spare to them, 

 and do justice to my other fields. I have be- 

 stowed nuich earnest thought upon them. As 

 they are located, I can't very well turn them 

 out to pasture, and I don't want to let them 

 go back again to a forest. I have thoughts, 

 Mr. Editor, of trying your clover and plaster 

 system on them, tliat you recommended in the 

 Fakmer a few months ago ; by turning them 

 over with the plough soon after the grass is 

 mown otF in haying, let them summer fallow 

 awhile, then reseed, and sow them to winter 

 rye, putting on a top dressing of about three 

 hundred weight an acre of plaster, three 

 bushels of ashes, two bushels of salt, one cart- 

 load of green manures, and one cart-load of 

 good swamp muck well mixed and composted 

 together, sowing it broad-cast with the hand. 

 Royal Smith. 



Millington, Mass., Jan., 1871. 



Remarks. — We shall look with interest for 

 an account of the proposed experiment. 



GREEN FEED FOB, COWS, 



At the late Dairymen's Meeting in Utica, the 

 subject of green feed for cows was discussed. 

 Mr. Harris Lewis of Herkimer, urged upon 

 dairymen the importance of taking a piece of 

 land convenient to the barn, say one acre for 

 every dozen cows, underdrain it, plow it deep, 

 enrich it as every dairyman has the ability to 

 enrich it, and early in the Spring seed it with a 

 general assortment of such of our best grasses 

 as mature about the same time. Land thus 

 prepared and put in orchard grass will, as long 

 as proper fertility is maintained, produce each 

 season four cuttings, two feet high. It should 



be cut just befoi'e or at least as soon as the 

 blossoms appear. If left, even for a short 

 time thereafter, it loses its great value as an in- 

 ducer of a liberal flow of the best quality of 

 milk. At the head of all forage plants for 

 dairy cows, in connection with pasturage, he 

 placed lucern, provided the soil and culture 

 are suited to its habits. The soil should be a 

 deep, rich gravel, or sandy loam, naturally 

 undcrdrained. As the roots strike down to 

 the water, and prefer to go down eight or ten 

 feet to reach it, no kind of artificial under- 

 drainage would be of much service after one 

 year. The roots would enter any drain where 

 water could enter, and soon fill up the best- 

 constructed artificial drain. Again, lucern 

 will monopolize the soil upon which it grows, 

 or soon quit it. If the soil is clean and well- 

 prepared it may be sown broadcast (16 

 pounds per acre), and thus sown it can be fed 

 with less labor than when put in drills. Corn 

 he regards as worthless, its cost in most cases 

 exceeding its actual value. First in impor- 

 tance is lucern ; second, orchard grass ; and 

 third, common meadow grass, all of which 

 should be fed before they pass out of blossom. 

 In conclusion, he remarked that all forage 

 plants are better for being wilted or partially 

 dried. When this cannot be accomplished, on 

 account of the weather, he had found it advan- 

 tageous to feed in connection a small quantity 

 of hay. 



Mr. Farmington of Canada, bad sown Dent 

 corn very dense, and always with excellent re- 

 sults. So had Dr. Wight of Oneida ; and Mr. 

 Seymour remarked that he had used corn as a 

 forage crop for many years,' and never doubt- 

 ed that he had been well repaid. He had 

 sown it broadcast, three or three and a half 

 bushels of Western or Dent to the acre, and 

 he doubted the possibility of profitably plac- 

 ing any other plant in its place. As for mead- 

 ow and other grasses, he questioned if they 

 would endure more than one or two crop- 

 pings per annum. 



Mr. Schermerhorn of Oneida, had realized 

 benefit from soiling with corn. Fed to cows 

 on a small lot, "he so enriched the soil that he 

 was able to get a large crop the second year, 

 without more manure. jMr. Ruggles of New 

 Jersey, said the people of the northern section 

 of his State sow the eight-rowed yellow, and 

 would not willingly give up its cultivation for 

 forage. ]\Ir. Chapman of Madison, sowed his 

 first crop of corn for this purpose 30 years 

 ago, and had kept up the good practice ever 

 since, raising five consecutive crops on the 

 same ground without manuring. If not al- 

 lowed to ear — as it sJiould not be — it does, not 

 exhaust the soil to any great degree. Experi- 

 ments of his proved that cows deprived of 

 corn fodder not only shrunk in their mess, but 

 that less cheese was made from the same bulk. 



Mr. Dick of Erie, had found that he could 

 get more rnilk from sowed oats than from 

 corn, but that the quality was inferior. Mr. 



