THE CULTIVATOR. 
35 
ness is burnt up. Pull out a handful that was put up in 
this way, and you find the heads and leaves reduced to 
powder, and by a slight rubbing the whole flies off in 
dust. . . . 
Clover, if it stands up well, should be cut while it is 
in the fullest blossom; or, if it lodges down and begins 
to sour at the bottom, cut it as soon as this takes place. 
As soon as the dew or wet is dried off from it, put it into 
small cocks. Notice closely the progress it makes in 
drying; it will cure in from two to four days, or longer, 
according to the state of the weather. Put it into the 
barn or stack in a fair day, turning over the cocks and 
opening the bottoms a little a sufficient length of time 
before loading to dry off the dampness. Clover put up 
in this way will retain every leaf and head, together 
with that delightful fragrance which belongs^ only to 
such hay properly cured; and when it is fed judiciously, 
will be found to make as much flesh, milk, or butter, 
and of as good a quality, as any other hay, pound for 
pound. 
A great loss is sustained in this part of the country 
from not sheltering animals. They are often fed in the 
bad manner I have described, exposed through the 
whole winter to all the vicissitudes of our changeable 
climate, without any better shelter than the lee-side of a 
rail fence. Under such exposure, they require much 
more food to sustain them than they would do were they 
kept comfortable, and with an abundance fed out, which 
is either consumed or wasted, they are “ dog poor” in 
the spring. 
All animals should have suitable and comfortable 
shelter. Milch cows should have dry and warm stalls, 
where each can be fed (without being molested,) as her 
peculiar condition requires. Horses and working oxen 
should also be provided for in a similar manner. 
Horses are generally pretty well taken care of here; 
but other stock is neglected. Young cattle may be in 
open sheds with roofs that will keep off the rains, and 
so arranged as to protect them from the winds. Under 
these sheds they may be fed in bad weather. Where 
barns and sheds cannot be had, a warm hill side, shel¬ 
tered by a wood, is a good substitute. Stock of every 
description should, if practicable, be fed under shelter 
in stormy weather, and ought never to be allowed to go 
on to land when it is in such a state as to be cut up by 
their feet. 
But it is objected that stock is so low here that it is 
not an object to provide suitable food and shelter for 
them. Stock is very low it must be confessed; and the 
necessity is so much the greater for keeping it in such 
a manner that the food consumed and the care bestowed 
may be turned to the best account. 
There is one description of animals, however, which 
it seems to me would, beyond a doubt, return a fair 
equivalent for some better treatment than they generally 
receive. At any rate, there can be no reasonable ex¬ 
cuse for such inhuman neglect as they are condemned to 
suffer. I mean milch cows. In the neighborhood of all 
our large towns, butter commands a fair price; that is, 
a fair price in proportion to other articles. In this town, 
those who sell good butter find no difficulty in getting 
twelve and a half cents per pound through summer, and 
from that sum to eighteen and three-fourths cents in 
winter. Cheese also brings a price relatively higher 
than most farm products. Hence, where dairying is 
Understood, it is reckoned a profitable business. Yet I 
have often passed by farms in the winter season, where 
quite large herds of cows and other cattle were kept, 
and found them ranging on the whole farm, treading 
up the soil, and gnawing the grass to the very roots, 
with only a pile of wheat straw to ‘‘run to,” and no¬ 
thing worthy the name of a shelter to protect them from 
the storm. 
This part of the country possesses great advantages 
for keeping stock, particularly sheep; and if a proper 
system was pursued, and a steady market could be had, the 
want of which by the way is the greatest obstacle to im¬ 
provement, the business might be made profitable. 
Sheep injure grounds less by the tread than cattle; and 
by taking care to save the latter growth on some fields 
of blue-grass, or other grass that is not much injured by 
frost, tliey can live well through the winter almost en¬ 
tirely by grazing, requiring but little besides, except a 
small daily allowance of grain. But they should by all 
means have shelter from the storms. A good shelter 
may be made very cheaply with rails and straw. But 
they are here often allowed to run where they please, 
without being fed or sheltered, and by the month of 
March or April, half their wool is gone, and the re¬ 
mainder is so full of burrs that it is not worth much. 
There are exceptions, to be sure, to such bad ma¬ 
nagement; but I fear that a stranger would say of us— 
“ this is country life in common.” 
Zanesville, O., Jan. 4, 1843. Sanford Howard. 
(i « c 
COHN STALK CUTTER.—(Fig. 17.) 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I send you a cut and 
description of a Corn-Stalk Cutter, which I think is su¬ 
perior to either of those given in your last volume, or 
any other I ever saw or heard of. It is what we call a 
“ Corn Knife.” It is made of iron laid with steel or all 
steel, if preferred. In the above cut, the distance frpni 
c to d should be 18 inches, which is the edge of the blade; 
from a to b, or the breadth 2 inches; thickness at back 
|th of an inch, and should be gradually tapered to a thin 
edge. The shank o should be 6 inches long, and should 
be rather flattened on the sides than square or round or 
an oval shape; the handle c should be slipped on it and 
firmly clenched. Any blacksmith can make the blade, and 
any farmer the handle. Here in Kentucky, we plant our 
corn generally in hills about four feet distant in every 
direction, three and four stalks in a hill, and with this 
“ Corn Knife,” when kept sharp, a hand will cut and 
stand up in shocks or stooks, of 16 hills square to each 
stook, two acres per day, and when a picker up follows, 
four acres per day. One stroke to the hill is sufficient, 
nor that a hard one. 
Kentuck. 
Sharpsburg, Bee. 1842. 
VIRGINIA GRASSES. 
Timothy. —From the Blue Ridge westward, this grass 
is preferred to all others; but east of the Ridge it is in¬ 
ferior to several others. This difference of produce is 
no doubt principally caused by difference of climate, but 
the deficiency of lime in eastern Virginia, is another 
cause. It is generally cut only once in the year. Grows 
from 3 to 4^ feet high. 
Orchard Grass. —^Where the land is rich, this grass 
thrives well over the state, and makes good hay if cut 
when in bloom. I am surprised those of the timothy re¬ 
gion do not try this grass, as I am persuaded that the 
yield would be about double that of timothy, and the 
hay very nearly of equal quality. Red clover, and green 
grass, (Kentucky blue grass,) come to perfection about 
the same time as orchard, and one or both of these 
should always be sowed with the orchard, for the dou¬ 
ble purpose of filling up the interstices, and that the or¬ 
chard may keep the others erect. The orchard grass is 
cut from two to three times the season. Grows from 3 
to 4^ feet high. 
Herds _The herds grass, or red top, is very common 
east of the Blue Ridge, and is the only valuable grass 
which thrives on land which is naturally acid, or made 
so by stagnant water. It makes excellent hay, but the 
yield is not great, and is generally cut twice. Grows 2| 
to 3| feet high. 
Green Grass, Green Sward, Green Sword, or 
Kentucky Blue Grass. —On land which is really in 
good heart, and contains a goodly portion of potash, 
this, when taking into consideration both grazing and 
mowing, is undoubtedly the most valuable grass in Vir¬ 
ginia. It will grow to about the height of two feet, and 
so very thick, that a blade, common width, cannot enter 
it. It makes good hay, and the grazing cannot be ex¬ 
celled. It may be cut for hay two or three times the 
season, then grazed through winter, and yet continue to 
grow during all mild weather. It is the blade which I 
would have it understood grows to the height of two feet 
in rich land, for in such it very seldom puts up a stem 
and yields seed; but when this does occur, this grass at¬ 
tains the height of three feet. Any land with us which 
would produce good wheat, will also produce good green 
grass, by the sowing of ashes or potash; and the sow¬ 
ing of the seed is not required, for the land is already 
stocked by nature. I have a lot of this grass mixed with 
clover, which has been cut twice for hay this yeai', and 
is now lying on the ground, the blades from ten to fif¬ 
teen inches long. The stem of this grass has but few 
joints, and is straight and perpendicular. The color is 
pale green. 
Blue Grass _This grass grows to about the same 
height of green grass, with a thick jointed and zigzag 
stem. The color is dark green, tinged blue, and it ne¬ 
ver fails to produce seed. It grows only on acid clays, 
and mountain land, made acid by much decayed wood. 
It makes but indifferent hay, and I am always glad when 
by dint of licks I can extirpate it. 
Red Clover, grows well with us, and is as well ef¬ 
fected by plaster, as perhaps any where in the Union. 
White Clover. —This section of country is by nature 
well stocked with the seed of this grass, and the appli¬ 
cation of plaster or ashes, or both, will cause it to spring 
up and grow on any of our lands which are in heart, or 
has any heart at all. Pity it is, this grass is not more en¬ 
couraged. 
Velvet Grass. —This grass has got amongst us by 
being imported with the orchard grass. The color is 
a pale green, tinged purple, with a purple head, and the 
whole plant is covered with down, resembling velvet, 
hence its name. The natural place for this grass is run¬ 
ning water. I incline to believe its yield is greater than 
any other grass known amongst us. Within a few years 
past I have sowed some 30 or 40 acres with orchard 
grass, all of which had a mixture of the velvet, and I 
have noticed invariably that where a bunch of the last 
mentioned takes near to, or in running water, that it 
grows most luxuriantly. About five years past, I sowed a 
lot of 10 acres of ordinary clay bottom with orchard and 
velvet grass. It all came up well, and grew tolerably 
the first year; the second year the whole became sickly, 
and the orchard grass mostly died; and the third year 
the remains was velvet grass, and that in a dying state. 
^ The lower end of this lot was a poor sickly white clay, 
over which I conveyed a streamlet for improvement. In 
the running water, the velvet grass has taken firm pos¬ 
session, and is the best piece of grass I ever saw. This 
grass quickly perishes in stagnant water, consequently 
for a large meadow, a large quantity of water must be se¬ 
cured ; and this must be kept in motion; therefore the 
meadow must have neither sinks nor absolute le¬ 
vels. Perhaps this grass possesses the power of absorb¬ 
ing and decomposing a large quantity of water, and if 
so, it must be very valuable, as poor land will suit it 
nearly, or perhaps quite as well, as that which is rich. 
This grass springs up as early as orchard grass, may be cut 
as often, and grows to very nearly the same height. The 
seeds resemble the orchard grass very much, but differ in 
this, that if not cut before thoroughly ripe, they will be 
lost by shattering. 
Thus it is seen, that for rich dry meadow, I would pre¬ 
fer a mixture of orchard grass, green grass, and red clo¬ 
ver, or any two of them; for stagnant land, herds grass; 
and for running water, velvet grass. 
Amherst co. Va., Bee. 24, 1842. Za. Drummond. 
PLAN OF A FARM HOUSE. 
WOOD HOUSE 
BUTTERY 
_ 
Chamber Floor. — (Fig. 19. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I transmit for your 
consideration the enclosed plan of a Farm House, which 
I think both convenient, and sufficiently large for any 
moderate farmer. It is intended to be only one story 
and a half, or 13^ feet posts, as that is high enough to 
admit of persons walking under the eaves, and makes 
the chambers quite pleasant. The rear to be 16 feet 
wide, and extended to suit one’s fancy. I have not cal¬ 
culated a chimney in the front, as stoves are more handy 
and cheaper, the pipes to run up through the chamber 
floors and meet over the hall, where there is to be a 
chimney. There is a chimney in the kitchen, which af¬ 
fords a fire place, in that and the wood house; the latter 
to be used as a wash room if desired; a clothes press and 
two cupboards off from one of the bedrooms—one to be 
opened into the sitting room, and the other into the 
kitchen. Stairs to go up in the hall; cellar stair under, 
out of the kitchen. Kitchen stairs to go to one of the 
bedrooms, to save going up front stairs. The chamber 
hall to be lighted from bedroom, by means of glass in 
the upper part of door, A Constant Reader. 
Michigan, Oct. 1842. 
POTATOES—CUTTING OFF BLOSSOMS. 
The following paragraph went the rounds of the agri¬ 
cultural papers last summer:—-‘M. Zeller, director oi 
the agricultural society at Darmstadt, in 1839 planted two 
plats of ground with potatoes. When the plants had 
flowered, the blossoms were removed from them in one 
field, while those in the other field remained untouched. 
The former produced 476lbs. the latter only 371bs.— Far- 
