56 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of their population; but the great staples of trade 
must be farm stock and their products. Nor does 
this augur bad for the future prosperity of these dis¬ 
tricts. While the demands for meat, butter, cheese 
and wool, are likely to increase, the fertility of the 
soil, under judicious management, is likely to improve, 
and with it .the condition of the population. We 
may confidently predict, that, at no distant day, the 
best portion of our population, that is, the most intel¬ 
ligent, the most independent, and the most republican 
in their principles and habits, will be found in these 
districts. Though there may not be so many that 
possess great wealth, there will be a larger portion 
who possess competent wealth—though not so much 
ostentation and extravagance, there will be less want 
and more substantial comfort, more equality and so¬ 
cial enjoyment—in the cattle, than in the grain grow¬ 
ing districts. It is worthy of remark, that in those 
districts where attention has been given particularly 
to the dairy, the condition of the husbandman has 
been rapidly improving. This remark applies to Or¬ 
ange, the northern part of Delaware, portions of Her¬ 
kimer, Oneida, Otsego, &c. &c. 
We gave, in our March number, some directions 
for renovating and improving old meadows and pas¬ 
tures. We now proceed to give some suggestions 
ON CONVERTING ARABLE, OR PLOUGH-LAND, INTO PER¬ 
MANENT MEADOW OR PASTURE. 
The first obstacle to encounter, is the practice, yet 
too prevalent, of throwing plough-land into old field, 
or pasture, without stocking it with grass seeds. We 
lay it down as an unerring rule in good husbandry, 
that ploughed fields, intended to be converted in pas¬ 
ture or meadow, should be well stocked with grass 
seeds ; and as next in importance, that as many spe¬ 
cies of grass seeds be sown as can be procured, or 
are adapted to the soil; and that, if possible, there 
be included the seeds of those grasses which are 
either indigenous to, or which are found to thrive 
well in, the immediate neighborhood, and in similar 
soils. The reasons for recommending several species 
are these: Each kind has its particular season of 
growth, and exhausts a particular food in the soil; 
and by multiplying the number, we are more apt to 
obtain a constant growth of herbage, and a far more 
abundant supply of feed. Thus, for instance, say a 
square foot of surface will support but six stocks of 
timothy,—this grass, growing neither very early, 
nor very late, the herbage would neither be abund¬ 
ant nor permanent. But the same square foot which 
would support but six plants of timothy, would sup¬ 
port, at the same time, because every kind requires 
its specific food, six plants of five other species, say 
meadow fox-tail, red clover, white clover, orchard and 
tall oat grass, or species of the agrostis or fescue fa¬ 
milies. Of these six kinds, some one would be in 
luxuriant growth at all seasons, and the herbage would 
be increased from three to four fold, if the soil be 
good, by the admixture of the different seeds. 
We cannot too often repeat, that pastures and 
meadows are almost as much benefitted by a rich 
soil, and a soil moist, not wet, as arable husbandry. 
The food of the grass, as well as of the grain crop, 
must come mainly from the soil; and if this food is 
scanty, the crop will, in like manner, be scanty. And 
again, the more nutritious grasses will not grow on 
soils habitually wet. 
“The products of natural meadows,” says Arm¬ 
strong, “ have been carefully and skilfully analyzed in 
Germany, in Italy, in England and in France, and the 
result shows, that wet meadows contain the smaller 
number of the different species of plants, but the great¬ 
er number of those which are either useless or injurious; 
and, on the other hand, that moist meadows contain the 
greater number of the former, and the smaller num¬ 
ber of the latter. The following simple table exhibits, 
at a glance, the present state of knowledge on this im¬ 
portant part of our subject: 
No. of plants. Useful. Useless or bad. 
In wet meadows,. 30 4 26 
In dry “ . 38 8 30 
In moist “ . 42 17 25 
“The agricultural labors suggested by these facts, 
are of two kinds,—the eradicating of useless, pernicious 
plants, and the continuance and multiplication of those 
which are good. The first of these objects is promo¬ 
ted by mowing the meadows before the seeds of nox¬ 
ious plants ripen, by pasturing them once in three 
years, by sheep, horses and cattle, in succession; by 
harrowing them in the spring and fall; by destroying 
by hand perennial weeds, and lastly, by sufficiently 
draining those that are wet. 
“ Many pernicious plants are annuals, and are killed 
by the first of these operations. A similar effect is 
produced by the second; the harrow or scarifier will 
destroy mosses or other weeds, whose roots are fibrous 
and superficial; the hand hoe will extirpate such tap- 
rooted plants as resist the harrow, and are refused by 
cattle, and draining will expel all worthless aquatics.”* 
In order to obtain seeds of indigenous kinds, which 
are not to be had in the shops, it is common, in Eu¬ 
rope, to have the seeds carefully gathered by children, 
which being sown on a well prepared piece of ground, 
and taken care of, will soon yield seeds for farm cul¬ 
ture. It is easier to accommodate the plant to the 
soil, than to adapt the soil to the plant. 
In laying down lands to permanent meadow or pas¬ 
ture, it is all important to have the soil perfectly bro¬ 
ken and pulverized; as the future value of the crop 
will depend upon the perfect germination of the seeds, 
and this cannot be expected without a thorough pul¬ 
verization and preparation of the soil. It is also im¬ 
portant to sow plenty of seed. The ground, to be 
sure, will sustain and nourish only a certain number 
of plants ; yet it is better to go to an extra expense 
for seed, than to have a deficiency of plants. It is 
usual, in Britain, to sow from ten to sixteen pecks of 
grass seed to the acre on lands intended for perma¬ 
nent grass, and embracing from six to a dozen spe¬ 
cies. Another practice there, entitled to our notice, 
in laying down lands permanently to grass, is to sow 
grass seeds exclusively, that is, unaccompanied with 
any sort of grain. A good turf is the main object; 
and if grain is sown with the grass seeds, it robs the 
soil of much of the food which is necessary to nur¬ 
ture the young grass ; and permanent value is there¬ 
by sacrificed to temporary and comparatively trifling 
profit. 
The best time for sowing , for permanent grass lands, 
is said to be the early part of autumn, say in August 
or the first of September, in order that the plants 
may become well established before winter. Or, the 
more hardy kinds may be sown then, and the tender¬ 
er kinds sown upon the same field in the spring, as 
we sow clover upon the winter grain. As the seeds 
of grasses are generally small, the use of the roller, 
to pulverize and press the earth upon them, and to 
smooth the surface, is almost indispensable in good 
husbandry. It is considered of great advantage to 
give a light dressing of compost, or rotted dung, to 
young grass ; and to avoid feeding it with heavy ani¬ 
mals the first year, before the turf has thickened and 
become firm. 
If the grounds laid down in grass are intended for 
permanent meadow, reference should be had to the 
grasses which are fit for the scythe at nearly the same 
time. For information on this point, we refer to p. 
30, vol. IV, and to pages 11, 33, 47 and 63, vol. III. 
of Cultivator. 
Should pasture and meadow be made to alternate, 
or should fields be kept exclusively for each ? The 
American practice is not to alternate ; and yet there 
seems to be substantial reasons for a contrary course. 
The object in both cases is to obtain the greatest 
quantity, and best quality of food for farm stock ; and 
this object is promoted, in both cases, by scarifying, 
draining, top-dressing. Labor is as profitably laid 
out in improving our pasture, as our meadow grounds. 
But feeding and mowing have different effects upon 
the soil. In one case the crop is annually carried 
off, and in the other consumed upon the ground; 
Meadows, therefore, diminish in fertility ; pasturing 
increases the fertility of the soil. Is it not proper, for 
this reason alone, to alternate, in order to keep up 
fertility 1 But there is another argument: Pastures 
soon abound with biennial and perennial plants, as 
thistles, mulleins, &c. which, as cattle do not con¬ 
sume them, mature and shed their seed, and multiply 
rapidly. Whereas, if occasionally converted to mea¬ 
dows, these plants would be cut down, before the 
seeds matured, and at least the biennials would be 
soon extirpated. These weeds are as prejudicial in 
pastures, in diminishing the quantity of herbage, as 
they are in meadows, and the same good manage¬ 
ment requires their extirpation in both. 
Something depends on the size of enclosures. Small 
enclosures, say ten acres, are believed to be better 
than large ones. Grass grows better when there is 
no stock upon it, than when it is subjected to the 
constant tread of heavy animals; hence it is deemed 
economical to shift cattle occasionally from one en¬ 
closure to another. Another advantage of small en¬ 
closures is, it enables the farmer to keep different 
classes of stock separate, and thereby prevent inju¬ 
ries which often occur to weaker animals from run¬ 
ning with stronger ones. 
“Respecting the stocking of enclosures —(we quote 
from Br. Husbandry,)—it is the opinion of the most 
intelligent graziers, that the cattle fed upon them should 
be divided in the following manner. Supposing four 
fields, each containing a nearly equal quantity of land, 
one of them should be kept entirely free from stock un¬ 
til the grass has got up to its full growth, when the 
prime or fattening cattle, [or the cows, where the dairy 
is the prominent business] should be put into it, that 
they may get the best of the food; the second best 
should then follow; and after them, either the working 
or store stock, with lean sheep to eat the pastures 
close down: thus making the whole of the stock eat 
over the four enclosures in this succession :— 
No. 1. Clear of stock, and reserved for the fattening 
beasts or cows. 
No. 2. For the fatting beasts, till sent to No. 1. 
No. 3. For the second best cattle, until forwarded suc¬ 
cessively to Nos. 2 and 1. 
No. 4. For stores and sheep to follow other cattle, then 
to be shut up until the grass is again ready, as 
at No. 1, for the fattening beasts.” p. 482. 
“ Land that is constantly mown, must also be fre¬ 
quently manured, or it will be thrown out of heart.” 
There is no doubt on this point. If the crop is an¬ 
nually carried off, and nothing in the shape of vege¬ 
table matter returned to the soil, the land must and 
will deteriorate, till the crop will not pay the labor of 
gathering it. Those, therefore, who will have good 
permanent meadows, must, once at least in four 
years, give it a bountiful top-dressing of dung. 
Agriculture of Massachusetts. 
First Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts, by 
Henry Colman, Commissioner for the Agricultural 
Survey of the State. —Boston, pp. 140—8vo. 1838. 
The distinguished gentlemen to whose politeness 
we are indebted for copies of this report, will please 
accept our thanks. It is the first report of a strictly 
agricultural survey ever made, w T e believe, on the new 
continent, and embraces barely the county of Essex. 
As we consider it the pioneer of many which are ere 
long to follow, in that and other states, of a like na¬ 
ture, we will endeavor in our next number to notice so 
many of the good practices in husbandry wdiich it ex¬ 
hibits, and to point out such of the bad ones, as our re¬ 
stricted limits will permit, and the interests of our pa¬ 
trons demand. 
Massachusetts Statistics. 
The legislature of Massachusetts, in 1837, required 
the assessors of each town to make returns to the se¬ 
cretary of the commonwealth, before the first of Octo¬ 
ber, of certain statistical facts in regard to the indus¬ 
trial resources of the state. These returns have been 
published in a pamphlet of 200 8vo. pages, accompa¬ 
nied by an abstract in tabular form, and a copy has 
been sent to us by some unknown friend. The plan 
of thus collecting and concentrating these data, so im¬ 
portant to all classes, must be apparent to every one 
who examines the publication, and we cannot but in¬ 
dulge the hope, that our legislature will see the expe¬ 
diency of adopting the example of a sister state, as 
well in this, as in the liberal encouragement which 
she extends to her agriculture. The abstract con¬ 
tains the aggregates of each county. We make the 
following extract from the general summary, the foot¬ 
ing of which shows, that the capital invested in the 
branches of industry noted, principally manufactures, 
amounts to $54,851,643 ; that the value of the annual 
product is $91,765,215 ; and that these branches of la¬ 
bor give employment to 117,352 of her population. 
We have selected but a small portion of the items. 
Articles manufactured or 
produced. 
Value. 
Hands 
emplo’d. 
Capital. 
Axes, scythes, snaiths, &c. 
325,956 
387 
196,938 
Bonnets (straw) and palm 
leaf hats, .. 
Boots and shoes,. 
1,902,803 
14,642,520 
39,068 
Brushes, brooms &, baskets, 
289,512 
350 
103,095 
Buttons of all kinds........ 
246,000 
358 
147,200 
Cotton goods, (cloths,). 
13,056,659 
19,754 
14,369,719 
Cotton batting, thread, warp 
and wicking,.. 
169,221 
151 
78,000 
Cotton printing,.. 
4,183,121 
1,660 
1,539,000 
Fishery, whale, cod &l mac- 
kerel,. 
7,592,290 
20,126 
12,484,078 
831,076 
647 
759,400 
Hats,. 
698,086 
869 
Leather, including morocco, 
3,254,416 
1,798 
2,033,423 
Nails, brads and tacks,. 
2,527,095 
1,095 
1,974,000 
1,133,500 
Oil, (refined whale & other,) 
2,030,321 
145 
. 
1,544,230 
1,173 
1,167,700 
137,000 
209,950 
56,150 
680,782 
125 
Stone, (granite, marble, slate 
and soap,).. 
1,177 
Wool,. 
539,689 
2,842,778 
Woollen goods,.. 
10,399,807 
7,097 
5,770,750 
The Aim and Fruits of Philosophy, 
According to the Baconian creed, should be “the 
multiplying of human enjoyments, and the mitigat¬ 
ing of human sufferings “ the relief of man’s es¬ 
tate “ the comfort of mankind“ to enrich the hu¬ 
man race with new discoveries and possessions “to 
endow mankind continually with new powers and 
works.” Two words, says Bacon’s biographer, form 
the key of the Baconian doctrine—utility and pro¬ 
gress. 
The odium cast upon philosophy by the events of 
the French revolution, excited, in the minds of many, 
an undue prejudice towards it, and probably deterred 
thousands from those studies and investigations which 
are most eminently promotive of human happiness. 
We have often heard the term philosophy employed, 
by the ignorant or prejudiced, as denoting something 
repulsive to our moral feelings; and yet we are in¬ 
debted to it for most of the comforts and enjoyments 
of civilized life. It not only multiplies our enjoy¬ 
ments, but it teaches us how to avert the ills of life, 
and, when they do overtake us, how to mitigate their 
* Treatise on Agriculture, p. 126-7. 
