1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



367 



at the time when the plant has gained its most 

 vigorous growth, and is nearest perfection. 

 The stem and leaves are tender, juicy and 

 rich in nutriment. Now, then, is the true 

 time to cut it — just as soon as the seed is 

 formed. After this, all the energies of the 

 plant are devoted to the perfection of the 

 seed ; that must be taken care of. To ac- 

 complish this a great change takes place. All 

 the nutriment which the seed needs is sent 

 there, and most of the sugar and starch — the im- 

 portant qualities which we wish to retain — are 

 changed into woody fibre, in order to strengthen 

 the stem, to hold up the seed to the a'r and 

 light, until the seed is perfected. This is il- 

 lustrated in the stem of the cabbage, which 

 grows hard as the plant grows older, and the 

 radish is so tough and solid if left to blossom, 

 that it becomes entirely unfit to eat. 



We are told upon good authority, that one 

 hundred pounds of timothy hay contains 

 between two and five pounds of a peculiar 

 oil. This, we suppose, is what gives that de- 

 licious fragrance to well-cured, early cut hay. 

 In the blades and stems there is much sugar 

 and starch, and a peculiar gum. In grass cut 

 when just going out of blossom, we save all 

 these valuable properties ; the very properties 

 that give a rich How of milk, lay fat upon the 

 ox, or ensure rapid growth to young stock. 

 As the grass ripens, these qualities are gradu- 

 ally changed into woody or cellular fibre, and 

 the sugar and starch its various parts contain 

 are correspondingly diminished. 



It is well ascertained, also, that the weight 

 of hay is less when allowed to ripen, so that 

 we get a larger quantity, as well as a better 

 quahty of hay, by early cutting, and tlie land 

 will not be so much exhausted. 



It is urged by some that no loss is made by 

 leaving the hay to be cut after the seed has 

 ripened ; that which we lose on the quality of 

 the hay, we gain in the seed as a nutritious 

 grain. But from the manner in wliich grass is 

 cut and cured, much of the seed would be 

 shattered out and lost, so far as feed for stock 

 is concerned. What becomes of the sugar, 

 oil, starch and gum, contamed in the grass, if 

 not all appropriated in strengthening the stem 

 and perfecting the seed, we cannot tell. We 

 know, however, that similar changes are con- 

 stantly taking place throughout the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



A single expermient will be likely to satisfy 

 any farmer in regard to this matter. On one 

 acre containing the same quality of grass, cut 

 and cure one half of it, part as the blossom is 

 going out, and cut and cure the other half 

 when the seed has ripened, and notice care- 

 fully how the stock receive each. But it 

 should be fed out when all other circumstan- 

 ces are equal, as regards other feed, tempera- 

 ture, &c. 



There are two or three other points of much 

 importance in regard to curing and preserving 

 the grass crop, to which we will refer here- 

 after. 



PESTS OF THE FARM, 

 Owing to the introduction of foul seeds into 

 the various grass seeds sown, hundreds of 

 acres in each of the New England States are 

 covered with plants which greatly exhaust the 

 soil, and yet are good for nothing as summer 

 forage or winter fodder. 



These foul plants have now become a mat- 

 ter of serious loss on the farm. In many 

 cases, a piece of land is laid to grass, and 

 yields two or three profitable crops. Some 

 one, or perhaps half a dozen hardy plants 

 appear, and grow with such rapidity that the 

 grass plants yield to them so that tlie crop 

 wanted is greatly diminished. In the fourth 

 year the grass crop is reduced to less than 

 one ton to the acre, and if the land is not 

 then broken up, the field presents more of the 

 appearance of one of rank weeds than one of 

 edible grasses. 



In consequence of the encroachment of 

 these foul plants, ploughing, cultivating and 

 reseeding must be resorted to at a serious in- 

 convenience of cost, in addition to a previous 

 loss of crop for several years in succession. 

 But for the weeds, the field might have re- 

 mained, if on a moist soil, for eight or ten 

 years, and given an annual paying crop, by 

 the aid of an occasional top dressing. 



One of the worst of these pests is sorrel. . 

 It is a native of Europe, but has become com- 

 pletely nationalized here. Like some minute 

 insects, as the bark louse, for instance, or the 

 wheat midge, or the little ant that undennines 

 large buildings and brings them to the ground, 

 its power lies in its minuteness and hardiness. 

 Its roots permeate the soil in every direction, 

 while the stems and leaves cover the surface, 



