GROWTH OP HAY.-BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS. 
45 
right angles. Here is its merit. In harness where 
straps sustain no draught, or a very slight one, this 
buckle is to be commended; to move the strap it 
Is only necessary to move the tongue, and the strap 
is free. In the common buckle it is often difficult to 
move the strap to free the tongue, and in that respect 
the spring buckle is a decided improvement; and 
this applies more strikingly to traces than any other 
part of the harness; but even in this respect the 
spring buckle is not equal to Lawrence’s lever buckle, 
for the trace may be more readily moved in it than 
in the former. We fear that the spring tongue buckle 
cannot be made small enough (on account of its 
complexity) to be used on harnesses at other points 
than the traces. If so, it is valueless for all pur¬ 
poses about harnesses. If it can be made small 
■enough to answer for the purpose of fastening 
straps where there is no draught, or but a slight one, 
and a small buckle is required, it is a valuable im¬ 
provement. The same objection which applies to 
the common buckle does to this, viz. : when the 
trace or strap is moved, it must be moved from 
hole to hole , and these cannot be near each other, for 
then the trace or strap would be too much weak¬ 
ened. Here Lawrence’s buckle is eminently supe¬ 
rior, as no holes are necessary, and the trace or 
.strap is held by pressure, produced by the leverage 
of its curvature, and can be moved as much or little 
as may be wished. 
Where there is no draught the spring buckle is 
superior to the common buckle; where there is 
draught no buckle equals Lawrence’s tongueless one. 
orowtiToF HAY. 
Our correspondent A. R. D. (see last No., page 
30), stated the fact, in his article, of a meadow in 
New Jersey, which was so much affected by 
drought, that it gave no grass at the usual time of 
mowing; but by keeping out the cattle, the grass 
stook a start after the late rains commenced, and 
yielded two tons of hay per acre, which was cut 
and secured in November. 
The fact noticed is the same as is annually re¬ 
peated among the best farmers in Kentucky and 
Tennessee, and has been incorporated as a regular 
practice or system with them. The first crop of the 
fine blue-grass pastures, the glory of Kentucky, 
matures, and is fed off by cattle in the early part of 
the season, after which the pastures are carefully 
closed against all intruders. The late summer and 
early fall rains again start the grass and give it a 
luxuriant growth. This second growth, owing to 
the difference of climate, is allowed to remain on 
the ground for winter fodder, and is then fed off by 
the cattle, while, at the north, it would have been 
necessary to cut and house it. Irrigation, or copious 
rains, with abundant manure, and a prolonged 
autumn, would at all times secure this result in New 
Jersey. Owing to the excessive drought of the 
early part of the season, the grass did not grow; the 
soil was not exhausted by its accustomed crop, and; 
its hoarded strength was fully equivalent to a large 
coating of manure. The soil was thoroughly and 
deeply warmed by the long continued dry and hot 
weather, and the frequent and abundant warm 
showers that continued from the latter part of 
August till November, should have produced, as 
they everywhere did, abundant crops of grass. 
though the instance mentioned is the only one we 
have noticed as being reserved for hay. We do 
not conceive there will be any effect on the next 
year’s crop, whether the present one were cut earlier 
or later; the aggregate taken off in the course of the 
season, alone affecting the quality of soil and its 
capability for subsequent production. We should 
prefer that some of the dead grass were left as a 
slight protection to the roots against frost; but the 
latter seldom does serious injury to the roots of any 
of the grasses, unless accompanied by standing wa¬ 
ter, when it is said to winter kill. 
The remaining part of the article our correspond¬ 
ent has pretty much answered himself. We doubt 
the full dimensions of improvements communicated 
to the late Commissioner of Patents, and would 
much sooner credit a series of well authenticated 
facts in support of it, than an isolated instance, or 
any conjectures as to its possibility. That car¬ 
bonaceous matter is added to a soil, which is kept 
in grass, does not admit of doubt. The leaves ab¬ 
sorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere in large 
quantities, and carry no inconsiderable portion of 
it into the roots, where it accumulates in the soil, 
and nitrogen may possibly be added in sufficient 
quantity to maintain or even increase the standard 
fertility, by absorbing ammonia or nitric acid from 
the air and rains. But if the crop of grass be an¬ 
nually carried off, it is as certain as light, that there 
is a diminution of the salts; and the mineral or in¬ 
organic portions of the soil are gradually becoming 
exhausted, and if not replaced, they will sooner or 
later be so used up as to admit of no profitable returns. 
The reason of improvement going forward more 
rapidly when the seed is first allowed to mature, is 
simply, that in harvesting, much of it is scattered on 
the ground, where it replaces the old stock, and fills 
up every vacant space, by which more agents are at 
work in drawing carbonic acid from the air, and 
storing it up in the roots, where it constitutes a per¬ 
manent addition to the fertility of the soil. 
Benefit of Agricultural Publications. —We 
have paid out to farmers, principally of this State, 
over six thousand dollars in money the past year, 
for improved stock and seeds, most of which has ■ 
gone South. Now, if it were not for our periodi¬ 
cal, through the pages of which a knowledge of 
these things is made known, we could not thus 
benefit the farmer. Our business in these matters 
has merely commenced. What advantages, then, 
may not the farmer expect to derive from a continu¬ 
ance of it? We probably do not make one-tenth 
part of the purchases which-our paper influences— 
perhaps not even one-twentieth; and this amount 
is only one small item of the benefits conferred 
upon farmers by agricultural publications. Think 
of the improved implements which they help to 
form; of the improved system of cultivation ; of the 
introduction of new plants, seeds, and fruits : new 
fertilizers, and a superior method of applying 
them ; and above all, the great amount of instruc¬ 
tion to be found in their pages, and the constant 
endeavor to enlighten the minds and elevate the 
condition of the producing class—the pride, the 
glory, and the bulwark of the country. It is a 
standing wonder that every farm-house has not its 
agricultural periodical. 
