274 



NEW ENGLA^^) FARMER. 



June 



material. To be a good absorbent it must be 

 dry, and in order to keep it so it must be 

 housed. A person to use it to the best ad- 

 vantage, should provide himself with some 

 suitable plaee to store it at a dry time. As a 

 substance to absorb the urine of our stalls, it is 

 of much value. ]\Iuck is very slow in decom- 

 posing. If applied to the soil alone, its value 

 is at once enhanced, if, before applying it to 

 the soil, we mix it with some manure to beat 

 it, and render the particles soluble for plant 

 food. An Enghsh writer proved by experi- 

 mentthat one part of horse dung was capable 

 to bring three or four parts of muck to a suit- 

 able state of fermentation. I think most peo- 

 ple that use it here in composting, add one- 

 half muck to as much manure. Just how 

 much we can profitably use, each must decide 

 for himself from his own observation and the 

 opinions of others. I think I found it profit- 

 able the last year to use two-thirds muck to 

 one-third manure in composting. Besides this, 

 I use large quantities on the land in its nat- 

 ural state. 



Farmers should seek to know the resources 

 of their own farms before purchasing any of 

 the commercial fertilizers offered for sale. 

 The best kinds only admit in their analysis of 

 three to five per cent, of ammonia. A table 

 of analysis prepared by Prof. Johnson, of the 

 Connecticut State Agricultural Society, from 

 thirty-three samples of muck, yielded from 

 1.37 to 2.14 per cent, ammonia in its natural 

 state ; when dry from 3.10 to 5.41, averaging 

 about 3.50. It is hanl for fanners to accept 

 the analysis given by Dr. Dana, making muck 

 nearly or cjuite equal to cow manure. I think 

 it would be very hard to produce facts to show 

 it so satisfactory. Enough facts can be pro- 

 duced to show, to any doubting mind, that it 

 will pay to use it largely in our compost heaps. 

 The results have certainly exceeded my ex- 

 pectations. 



ORCHARD GRASS. 

 From an essay by L. F. Allen, Esq., Black 

 Rock, N. Y., in the Tribune, we make the 

 following extract : — 



We have grown this grass constantly — not 

 in large quantities, to be sure— for the past 

 30 years, and know its value for the various 

 purposes we have mentioned ; but for soiling 

 stock in the sunnuer season we consider its 

 qnaliti{;s the most eminent. A few of its 

 qualities will be stated : 



First: It starts early in the spring, with a 

 broad, oat-like leaf, growing rapidly, an(f 

 arriving at its highest condition of excellence 

 when in early bloom, which is about the time 

 of the blossoming of the common red clover, 

 and, if made into hay, fit to cut at the same 

 time. Yet, for soiling purposes, it may be 

 cut some days, or even some weeks, earlier. 

 Jt is better, however, for the full amount of 



nutriment it will afford, to wait until the flower 

 is fairly developed. Its qualities are sweet, 

 nutritious, abundant in production, tall as or- 

 dinary oats in growtii, and a heavy burden to 

 the area on which it is produced. If suiFered 

 to stand long enough to mature its seed, the 

 stalk fiber becomes hardy, harsh, and unpala- 

 table to stock ; therefore it must be cut before 

 it arrives at its seed-ripening condition, as is 

 the case with most other grasses for dry forage 

 purposes. No grass which we have ever 

 grown has yielded so heavy swath as this, nor 

 one from which so much cattle food to the 

 acre can be grown, aside from Lucerne or 

 Trefoil, wliich our American climates will not 

 consecutively, year after year, produce. No 

 grass, not even red clover, springs up so 

 rapidly after cutting as this. We have known 

 it in showery weather start fully three inches 

 within a week after cutting, and so continue 

 for repeated cuttings throughout the season, 

 retaining its verdure into the latest frosts, and 

 then affording a pasturage sweet and nutri- 

 tious, inviting to all kinds of farm stock in- 

 clined to grazing. 



Second: As hay, its quality is good, w7ie7i 

 cut in its early flower, but inferior when gone 

 to seed, attaining then a woodv fiber, as 

 before remarked, yet, when cut and steamed, 

 equal in nutritious quality to other late-cut 

 grasses. The steaming or cooking process 

 reduces its fibrous stalk to a comparative pulp, 

 rendering It palatable to the taste of animals, 

 and congenial to the action of the stomach for 

 nutritious uses. As hay, it cures readily ; its 

 long growth renders it easy to rake and 

 handle ; it stores compactly In either stack or 

 mow ; cuts easily with the hay-knife in the 

 mow when fed dry in winter, and is every 

 way as convenient a long fodder as any other. 

 Such are its qualities for hay. 



Third: As soiling stock through the sum- 

 mer months is now coming rapidly into prac- 

 tice, we can do no better service to the far- 

 mer — more paitlcularly to the dairymen — 

 than to recommend the Orchard grass for that 

 purpose ; and for the following reasons : It Is 

 early. It grows continuously throughout the 

 summer and fall seasons. It Is permanent in 

 Its occupation of the soil, having a strong 

 fibrous root ; maintains Its hold in clumps, or 

 tussocks, against any and all other grasses, 

 even the blue grass — which crowds out almost 

 every other — making no inroads on its pos- 

 session when once fairly rooted. We have a 

 field of it, on a strong clayey loam, which lias 

 stood for more than 30 years. It has been 

 cut for soiling ; It has been cut for liay ; it has 

 been pastured ; it was first sown with red 

 clover and timothy, which it long ago run out, 

 and, although tlie white clover and blue grass 

 venture their presence to a limited extent 

 among it, the orchard grass retains its supre- 

 macy, and. breast-high at maturity, lords it 

 over Its diminutive trespassei-s in a bounteous 

 crop, while its humbler attendants, good in 



