The Meadow. All 
THE MEADOW. 
BY WM. BACON. 
The importance of the hay crop to the American farmer can 
never be too highly appreciated. Indeed, the same may be said 
of a// crops in climates where they will attain perfection, for all 
are not only useful but extremely valuable, insomuch as they go 
to improve the condition of the earth or minister to the comfort 
and happiness of man. After all, the hay crop rises in import- 
ance, especially in our northern regions, and stands above all 
others, for it may be termed the fostering mother of all other 
crops. Common sense and the every year observation and ex- 
perience of the farmer teaches this, for if the hay crop is short, 
the stock kept upon the farm must be reduced and consequently, 
the quantity of manure in the farm-yard is deficient, so that less 
land must be put in corn or wheat, or a less quantity of the fer- 
tilizing medium applied to the usual quantity of land, and as the 
consequence of either operation, a diminished harvest will be the 
result, which, of course implies that there is less of the commodity 
for market, and though a higher price may sometimes be the con- 
sequence, yet, on the whole there is a serious falling off in the re- 
turns to the fanner's pocket. This makes him, not only sad of 
countenance, but less inclined to employ labor or invest money in 
improvement, for the fact is, he has not the usual means to do 
either. Here is one loss, then, whose influence must be felt, per- 
haps for years. There is another, collateral with it. which may 
well claim a notice. The cornfield being contracted in its limits, 
or from not receiving its full supply of necessary aliment, is in a 
worse condition than it should be for successive tillage, conse- 
quently light crops may be expected in this part of the premises. 
So it may be seen that a short crop of hay in one season, inflicts 
a calamity for future ones, and beyond the w^earisome and dis- 
heartening prospects of the farmer, as he looks upon his sparsely 
covered meadows and diminished hay mows. 
How, then, shall the meadows be improved so as to furnish a 
uniformly good or a successively better crop? This is a question 
which the farmer cannot ponder too deeply and an operation 
which he cannot seek too sedulously to perform. No prescribed 
rule or set of rules laid down by theorists or chains of experiments 
satisfactorily made and fraught, in particular circumstances and 
various localities with desirable success, will serve as infallible 
criterions to his systems of operations. They may aid in deciding 
the best processes of renovation but they cannot decide what is best. 
There are some causes of renovation which may be adapted to 
all soils and all climates, provided nevertheless that the soil in 
