Q36 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
The Hay Crop. 
ITS QUALITY THIS YEAR-SALTING HAY-MIXING 
STRAW WITH HAY. 
Our hay cutting this year is late, and from its 
extraordinary rank growth in the month of June, 
considerable portions of it may be overgrown, 
and washy—that is, lacking substance, and nutri¬ 
tious quality. Grass thus rankly grown should 
stand longer, to fully mature its sap, and fit it for 
substantial fodder, than when equally grown un¬ 
der fitting alternations of sunshine and rain. Es¬ 
pecial care is required to examine that it be thor¬ 
oughly cured—not dried ,—before going into mow 
or stack, as, without such precaution, much that 
is apparently cured on the outer surface, is still 
damp and green within. 
Many hay cutters have a fancy for salting it as 
it is thrown into the mow or stack, and the expedi¬ 
ency or benefit of thus using salt is still an unde¬ 
cided question with many excellent farmers. We 
have tried salting, but we confess, with no de¬ 
cided opinion of its advantages. Two, or three, 
or even four quarts on a ton appears a small dose 
to preserve hay too damp to keep otherwise. 
As to any good to cattle to daily partake of salt 
with bay, even if so thoroughly distributed through 
as to affect it alike, we have some doubts, believ¬ 
ing by long experience that a tablespoonful or so 
of salt, once in a week or fortnight, is all that a 
full grown ox or cow requires, and that it is, per¬ 
haps, better so fed, than if with their daily food. 
Those who are putting up hay for their own 
use, and have old clean straw on hand, if their 
hay be imperfectly cured, can profitably intermix 
layers of straw with the hay, when thrown into 
the mow or stack, thus preventing mold. The 
straw absorbs the superfluous moisture, and it 
also gets a flavor from the grass, thus making the 
straw a palatable fodder. We have practiced this 
with decided advantage, and commend it strongly. 
We have also found rank water-grown hay, like 
that of this season, less kindly to cure in the win- 
row, or cock, as recommended in our last num¬ 
ber, than that of ordinary seasons. Spreading, 
therefore, that which is hand-mown should be 
looked after. In such a season as this, particu¬ 
larly, the benefit of the mowing machine, in this 
regard, is apparent. 
- m ^ 
Shade Trees in Pastures- 
BY A IOVER OF THE FARM. 
I confess to a very warm love for trees. I love 
them in the forest, stretching their tall trunks to¬ 
wards heaven ; I love them on the lawn, afford¬ 
ing a welcome shade from “ Summer’s noontide 
ray,” when, wearied with toil, I return from the 
field; and I also love noble trees, scattered 
here and thereover the farm, grown in the majestic 
symmetry of nature, in whose refreshing shade 
our grandsires sat and looked over the scenes of 
hard-won, but bloodless victories gained over the 
stubborn soil. Generations of cattle have re¬ 
posed contentedly in this shade, and what sweeter 
picture of rural repose can there be than when look¬ 
ing over broad fields, we see the flocks taking ref¬ 
uge from a Summer’s sun, under the wide-spread¬ 
ing boughs of some ancient elm, oak, or maple. 
And yet we are told that this is all wrong ; that 
all those grand old trees which (thanks be to their 
sense of the beautiful) our fathers left stand¬ 
ing when they felled the mighty forest, must 
all be leveled to the earth, leaving but an un¬ 
sightly stump as a monument of departed glory ; 
and horse or ox, with no retreat from the burn¬ 
ing rays of a Summer’s sun, forced to wander in 
agony over the field, eating, perhaps, because he 
does not know what else to do. I don’t wish 
harm to any one, but I would like to see the Hon. 
Mr. D., who was the first to mount this hobby, 
laid out in the sun some July day, when heaven 
and earth seemed filled with fire, and if he did not 
soon wish for some of those trees he sent his fore¬ 
man to cut down, I would yield the point. But se¬ 
riously, are we to have no eye for the beautiful 1 
Is the almighty dollar always to bound our vision 1 
If we plant our lawns with trees, and endeavor 
to show our taste in their arrangement, why not 
carryout the same plan over all the farm 1 We 
often admire the stately proportions of an oak, 
an elm, or a maple, at a distance, more than 
close at hand, because we can then take in their 
whole beauty of proportion at a glance. No, 
farmers ; do not, as you see your flocks and herds 
begin to seek the cooling shade, in the leafy 
month of June, sally forth, ax in hand, and fell 
to the earth your beautiful trees. I am one of 
those who believe, that the stomach of an ox re¬ 
quires rest as well as that of a man, and that 
man might as well cram himself from morning 
till night, as to require it of his dumb beast. In¬ 
deed, when we consider the system of the ox, 
that he eats quickly, and that a period of repose 
is absolutely necessary, that he may chew it over 
again, the idea of compelling him to stuff himself 
continually is simply ridiculous. Thus would I 
say to the grazier, spare the trees. 
White Daisies. 
The prevalence of white daisies on a farm is 
generally considered a sign of bad management. 
But let us not be too fast in our denunciation of 
this weed, or of the farmers who do not extermi¬ 
nate it. Sheep relish it highly, and though horses 
and cattle turn away from it while green, they 
take to it kindly when made into hay. Then, 
there are certain dry, sandy soils, where Timothy 
and clover grow with difficulty, and suffer in time 
of drouth, but on which the daisy flourishes well. 
Now, if the owner of such land has not the 
means or the time to enrich it all at once, why 
should he not make the best of the case, and let 
the daisy have the largest liberty 1 As to allow¬ 
ing the plants to go to seed, and scatter over 
the neighboring lands, we give no such advice. 
If one desires it, and really sets about it, the 
daisy is not difficult to eradicate. Turn in a flock 
of sheep, in Spring, upor a field infested with it, 
and after they have cropped it quite short, break 
up the land and devote it to a heavy crop of oats, 
and the daisies will almost disappear. Or, give 
the ground a good manuring and devote it to 
meadow, and the luxuriant grass will choke it 
out. Or, raising any hoed crop upon the land will 
answer the same purpose. 
Quack or Couch Grass .—(.Triticum repens.) 
This vegetable production has about as many 
lives as a cat. So tenacious is it of existence, 
that some farmers have given up beat by it. In¬ 
stead of trying to extirpate it, they make the best 
of it and turn it into hay. That it makes good 
and nutritious food for stock, if well cured, no one 
can deny. But it is a pest to the land, and every 
thrifty farmer ought to regard it so, and fight it to 
the end. On low, soft lands, which can not be 
well tilled, it may, perhaps, be suffered to remain, 
if it has got firm possession, but on no other. For 
it spreads like contagion, and years of hard labor 
may be necessary to subdue it. On light, rich 
soils, it luxuriates and bids defiance to every¬ 
thing but the most toilsome and persevering efforts 
to eradicate it. Gardeners sometimes resort to 
the expedient of covering with boards any por¬ 
tion of their ground that may have become infest¬ 
ed. This operation continued for a year goes 
far toward suffocating and killing the plants. The 
loss of one year’s crop on the soil so covered, is a 
small item compared with the gain of clearing the 
land. If the covering is continued for two years, 
the eradication becomes complete. Salt, applied 
in large quantities, will subdue quack; but on 
deep soils, where the roots penetrate far, the 
amount of salt required would make the remedy 
very expensive, and perhaps injure the soil for 
other crops. 
Probably, the best way of all is, to plow deep, 
harrow finely, and»then with a rake and a pair of 
hands gather up the roots which are brought to 
the surface. Go over the ground a second time 
with a three-toothed cultivator, and then use the 
rake and hands as before. Every root should, 
of course, be carried off from the ground and 
burned. 
--- — --- 
About Weeds. 
Do you ask where the weeds are 1 Sorry to say, 
in your plowed fields, your meadows and pastures, 
and garden. See ! right in plain sight, in yonder 
pasture, thistles flourish bravely, both the native 
American and the foreigner, mulleins, docks, 
white daisies, Johnswort and what not. Havn’t 
time to grub them up 1 Perhaps you havn't time 
to exterminate them all, root and branch, in one 
year ; but you can make a beginning on them 
Every farmer ought to feel a little ashamed, oi 
at least uneasy, if he is not gaining some head¬ 
way against this invading army. He ought to be 
able to say, at the end of every season, that he 
owns more free territory than he did at the begin¬ 
ning. And if he can not root out all the weeds 
in one year, or two years, he ought to extermi¬ 
nate some of them, and to let none go to seed. 
Did you ever stop and think what gross feeders 
these invaders are 1 They carry off annually a 
great amount of nourishment which ought to have 
been saved for the benefit of your wheat, corn, 
potatoes, and the like. Thirty or forty dollars 
worth is annually lost on some farms that we know 
of. Lost, and worse than lost! How these farm¬ 
ers would murmur against Providence, if a flood, 
or hail-storm, or drouth, caused them a loss ol 
half that amount! But they take the damage 
from their own carelessness very quietly. 
Now, let us speak a word in season. Grub up 
at once, the roots of every weed you can find time 
for ; and if you can not kill all, be sure to prevent j 
their ripening seed. Set that down as a rule never' 
to be violated. Now, in this very month of Au¬ 
gust, when every growing thing is hastening to j 
maturity, make an onslaught upon the barbarians. 
Heap high your trophies on the battle-field ; and 
ere long, fire them, and offer them up as a sacri- 
fice to Ceres. It’ll please the old heathen might- - 
iiy- 
To Kill Ferns and Brakes. 
Most varieties can be subdued by mowing 
them in June and in September, regularly for two 
or three years. Let no one be disheartened, be¬ 
cause they do not succumb at once. Every year’s 
mowing will weaken them, and they will give up 
the unequal contest at last. The sort called bog- 
brake must have its crown hacked off with a bog- 
hoe. Rake off the tops, and burn, or compost. 
