44 
THE CULTIVATOR 
MEADOWS. 
In the United States, where it is necessary to feed ani¬ 
mals from three to six months, and where hay is the 
principal article for their subsistence, the meadows from 
which this hay must be derived, are of no little conse¬ 
quence to the farmer, and their formation and manage¬ 
ment, items of no little importance in the system of ag¬ 
riculture. It was formerly the custom to prepare a part 
of the farm for meadow, generally the most level and 
rich part, and this was used constantly for this purpose, 
always receiving a liberal portion of the manure of the 
farm, and never being plowed or cropped. The natural 
consequence would be, that the more valuable grasses 
would be displaced by the coarser ones, or by weeds, and 
the actual value of the product for food seriously im¬ 
paired, even when not materially lessened in quantity. 
Occasionally, a farmer in advance of the age, would re¬ 
new the better grasses on his meadows by manuring and 
re-seeding, followed by a thorough harrowing of the 
surface; but in general, the result was a gradual running 
out, with scarce an effort on the part of the farmer to 
prevent it. 
A better method has followed the introduction of a ro¬ 
tation of crops, by which every part of a farm is in turn 
subjected to the plow, or is alternately cropped, and in 
meadow or pasture. In this method; there is no tithe 
allowed for the decline of the valuable grasses, and by 
their constant renewal, the introduction of the inferior 
grasses or useless plants is prevented. But it is evident 
that in this system, there must be a preparation of the 
soil previous to its being laid down to meadow. It must 
in the first place be made fit to be acted upon by the plow; 
it must be freed from surface stones, whether fast or oth¬ 
erwise; it must be drained to a depth sufficient to furnish 
a dry warm subsoil to the roots of cultivated plants; and 
if it has been exhausted, as nearly all long cultivated 
soils have been under the former vicious systems, it must 
receive a sufficient supply of manure, to render it fit for 
the production of crops. When thus fitted, and once 
well seeded, the basis of permanent improvement has 
been provided; as long experience has demonstrated that 
a proper course of crops with the grasses, instead of im¬ 
poverishing the soil, tends constantly to add to its fertili¬ 
ty. In this method, the plow does not constantly follow 
the plow on the arable lands, nor are the meadows, an¬ 
nually, and for long periods, submitted to the scythe; 
but the plow, meadow, and pasture, succeed each other 
at such intervals as experience shall deem most suitable 
for each. 
In all parts of our country, there are more or less ex¬ 
tensive tracts known as swamps, peat meadows, bog 
holes, &c. useless in themselves, and deforming the 
farms on which they exist. For unknown centuries these 
spots have been the reservoirs of animal and vegetable 
matter, and contain a large portion of the fertile materi¬ 
als that once existed in the soils around them. That such 
places would be productive in the highest degree, if it 
were possible to cultivate them, or that the valuable de¬ 
posits they contain would be the means of giving fertili¬ 
ty to large tracts of unproductive soil, if properly dis¬ 
tributed, is too evident to admit of a doubt; yet these na¬ 
tural deposits of wealth have been almost wholl}' over¬ 
looked, and covered with flags, rushes, bogs, or water, 
they still remain to poison the air with their exhalations, 
or keep from the farmer the most fertilizing portions of 
the soil. That these places may be made the most valu¬ 
able parts of a farm by the exertion of a little energy, 
and the expenditure of a reasonable degree of labor, there 
are, fortunately, owing to the progressive spirit of the 
age, abundant examples to prove. 
Whatever may be the condition of these natural mea¬ 
dows, in other respects, the first thing to be done, is to 
thoroughly drain them. The best method of doing this 
must depend on circumstances. If a considerable quan¬ 
tity of water is to be carried off, open drains, of a size 
and depth equal to the ready removal of the water, must 
be made. In many cases too, the texture of the deposit 
is so loose, that no other drains can be of use; and even 
these, until the soil has acquired some solidity from set¬ 
tling together, will be liable to occasional obstruction, 
and will require to be cleared or deepened, as the banks 
fall in, or the loose soil obstructs them. Where the 
quantity of water to be removed is small, or the texture 
of the soil admits it, covered drains are always to be pre¬ 
ferred, as furnishing less obstruction to agricultural ope¬ 
rations, and occasioning no loss of surface by their pre¬ 
sence. All that is necessary, is to allow the water to 
flow otf quickly and freely, and to the necessary depth; 
without this is done, the labor expended in draining will 
be mostly lost. 
When the ground is drained, the next step is to cover 
it with the cultivated grasses, or with other^ crops. If 
the soil is mostly vegetable matter, or peat, it is not fit 
for cropping unless a covering of common earth is ap¬ 
plied. If considerable quantities of the earths exist in 
the deposit, it may be cropped wilh advantage as soon 
as drained. The surface of such places should be level¬ 
ed; all bushes, bogs, &c. cut out, and then the surface 
covered with a coat of earth, such as sand or gravel, to 
the depth of three inches. With this, a quantity of ma¬ 
nure should be incorporated, and then spring grain of 
some kind, with a liberal supply of grass seeds of the 
kinds desired, may be sown. Some prefer having the 
first crop roots, potatoes for instance, and where the soil 
contains sufiicient earth to render the gravel covering 
Unnecessary, this is probably the best course. Spring 
grains, and grass seeds, follow the roots. W'inter is by 
far the best time to transport gravel upon such swamps; 
as a little calculation will show the number of loads re¬ 
quired for a given area, and it may be spread at any time. 
It is not often that such grounds will admit at first the 
driving of teams upon them, until fully settled Or gra¬ 
veled; the winter therefore, when the surface is frozen, 
is the best time for covering them. It is not denied 
that much labor and some expense must be incurred in 
reclaiming swamps, but when once done, their fertility 
appears inexhaustible, and it riot urifrequently happens 
that the crop of a single year will repay the whole. 
There are many thousand acres of land in New England, 
which until within a few years had been deemed worth¬ 
less, from which at the pr,eserit time heavy crops of roots, 
grain, and grass, are now taken; and the amount thus re¬ 
claimed is rapidly increasing. 
Farmers sufier a great loss from too close feeding of 
meadows or pastures, in the fall or spring of the year. 
Clover is almost destroyed in this way quite frequently, 
the crown of the plant being cropped by the half starved 
animals, until the power of vegetating is lost. This is a 
miserable treatment of meadows, and no good farmer who 
manages affairs as he should, will be habitually guilty of 
doing it. There are cases in which, where the soil 
Would admit of rotation, it is inconvenient to plow up 
meadows, and it is necessary to keep them in grass. In 
these cases it is usually advisable to manure them with 
compost, and if this is well harrowed in with a supply 
of fresh seeds, meadows may be kept in good condition 
for any number of years. But unless extraordinary cir¬ 
cumstances forbid, a course of cropping is altogether 
preferable to a long continuance in grass. The great 
difficulty in the rotative course of meadows, is found in 
the fact that farmers do but about half seed their lands, 
making the grasses coarse, and preventing the formation 
of close fine turf or bottom, so essential to good pasture 
or hay. Grass seeds, like the manures of too many 
farms, are frequently spread over so much surface, that 
the plants are hardly near enough for neighbors, while 
ample room is left for weeds to spring up and check, if 
they do not actually smother the young grass. It is idle 
to expect to convert poor exhausted land into meadow, 
until it has been supplied with manure. Grasses make 
land rich rapidly, and thus in a rotation prevent exhaus¬ 
tion; but there must be something furnished for the grass 
plants at first, or growth is impossible. When the farm¬ 
er remembers that six sheep will eat a ton of hay in a 
winter, and that each cow, ox, or horse, requires from 
one and a half to two tons in the same time, and that it 
is to the meadow he must look for his supply, the im¬ 
portance of paying attention to this part of the farm will 
be obvious. _ 
CULTURE OF HOPS. 
“Messrs. Editors— ^\Vill you do me the favor to 
give me the process of planting, cultivating, and pre¬ 
paring hops for market? W. W. Leland.” 
Pontotoc, Mi., 1843. 
A deep rich loam, rather heavy than light, with a 
porous subsoil, is the best soil for the hop. Air should 
have free access to the plantation, but if protected by 
woods on the north and north-west, the effect will be 
good. The neighborhood of swamps should be avoided, 
as they are apt to produce mildew. The soil must be 
fitted by deep and fine plowing, and repeated harrow¬ 
ing, so as to destroy all weeds, and make the soil as 
mellow and fine as possible. They must be planted in 
rows, six or eight feet apart, each way; at 8 feet, there 
will be 680 hills to the acre; at 6 feet, 1,210. Hops are 
planted in the spring, and by cuttings and sets from older 
plantations; each set should have two joints, or eyes; 
and are generally, some six inches in length. The 
ground is marked out into squares, at the proper distance; 
and where the furrows cross, a shovel full or two of 
compost manure is put in; on this, a quantity of earth is 
drawn to make a hill; and in this, five or six sets, at in¬ 
tervals of six inches, are placed. The hops produce 
nothing the first year, and a crop of potatoes, roots, or 
corn, is usually taken off. It should be a hoed crop, to 
keep the ground clean. 
The hops require hoeing and hilling annually; and a 
dressing of manure is applied every three years. The 
vines, the first year, are not allowed to spread;^ but are 
twisted into a bundle on the hill, so as not to interfere 
with the other crop. The second year, in the spring, 
the hills are opened, the old vines cut away, the earth 
loosened, suckers cut away around the edges of the hills, 
and nothing allowed to remain that will injure the 
principal roots, or interfere with their throwing out 
strong shoots. The poles may be set in April; they 
should be some 12 feet in length, and stout enough to 
resist the wind. About 3 poles will be best for each hill, 
placed so as to give a full exposure to the south. They 
must be set firmly, with an iron bar, and the earth ram¬ 
med closely around them. The vines, after they have 
grown to a proper length, must be secured to the poles 
by dried rushes, or strips of bass, two strong shoots to 
each pole, and all the rest must be cut away. 
The value of the hop, depending on the quantity of 
lupulin, or yellow powder, it contains, should never be 
picked as it sometimes is, until that part is fully develo¬ 
ped, or in other words, not until it is ripe. This is 
known by the yellowish hue of the hop, or by examin¬ 
ing it, and it should then be gathered, with as little de¬ 
lay as possible. The hop should be gathered in dry wea¬ 
ther, and when it is free from dew. For gathering, a frame 
is used, upon which a cloth is hung by tenter hooks, and 
around which the pickers, generally women, stand, while 
the hops are cut off at the root, and brought carefully to 
them by men. When full, the cloth with the hops, is 
removed to the drying house, where they are kiln dried, 
and bagged for market. The process of kiln drying 
should be completed as fast as the heps are gathered 
to prevent their acquiring an unpleasant flavor from the 
moisture they contain. When dried, they are packed 
in bags, pressed in closely, and firmly sewed up, and are 
now ready for market. Every step in the process of 
drying, must be performed with neatness, and a regard 
to the saving of the peculiar principle to which the hop 
owes its value. The product of the hop is variable, 
and must be considered rather an uncertain crop. From 
10 to 15 cwt. per acre, may be considered a medium 
crop; though, it has reached from 20 to 24 cwt. A 
plantation will last, well tended, from 12 to 15 years, 
when its renewal becomes necessary. 
More full, and ample directions, for the culture of the 
hop, and the determining their quality, may be found in 
the previous volumes of the Cultivator; particularly, in 
the 2d, to which we must refer inquirers. 
DOMESTICATION OF THE BUFFALO. 
Odr correspondent “ J. B.,” of Van Buren, N. Y., in 
a note, says ; “Now, I wish to inquire, whether there 
has been any attempt made to domesticate the Buffalo; 
and, if there has not, why will not our State Ag. Society 
make the attempt ? Surely, I think it worth trying. The 
Moose too, may be worth domesticating; and, while we 
are sending to England for Short Horns, Berkshires, 
and South Downs, would it not be well to try to use 
such as nature has put in our possession ? I make this 
suggestion to you, in the hope that you will call the at¬ 
tention of your readers to this, as I consider it, impor¬ 
tant subject.” 
The herd of Buffalo, or Bison, to which our corres¬ 
pondent alludes, as exhibited at the State Fair, were in¬ 
tended for England; rather as objects of curiosity than 
utility. According to Catesby, Pennant and Richardson, 
attempts have been made to domesticate them, but with¬ 
out much success. Pennant says, that “ calves have been 
caught, and brought up with common cattle, but though 
they seemed for a time, to have lost their savage nature, 
and would breed with the common cattle, they were al¬ 
ways impatient of restraint, unruly, and leading the tame 
animals into mischief.” It appears scarcely possible, 
that any good qualities could be gained by our domestic 
cattle, from crossing with the Bison, unless their wool, 
or fur, could be retained, which is not probable. We do 
not know whether any attempts have been made to do¬ 
mesticate the Moose, but the thing is doubtless possible. 
It should be remembered, however, that little can be 
gained by domesticating animals that do not add to our 
existing stock of food and clothing. Whether the Bi¬ 
son or the Moose belong to this class, our readers must 
determine. 
BONE MANURE. 
“Messrs. Editors— I would be very much obliged, 
if you, or some of your correspondents would inform 
me of the best method of applying bone manure, and 
the quantity to be used per acre. I have used a consi¬ 
derable quantity of it, and should be pleased to give in 
return, the result of my experiments. R. T. B.” 
Sandy Spring, Md., 1843. 
Bone manure, may be applied broad east, as gypsum 
is sown; or, placed in drills with the seeds, and this is, 
doubtless, the best way of using it. In this way, its in¬ 
fluence is felt at once in the germination and quick 
growth of the plants, a thing of much consequence with 
the turnep, and other plants, liable to be destroyed when 
young, by insects. In England, it is always, or gene¬ 
rally, sown in drills with turrieps; and in quantities va¬ 
rying from ten to thirty bushels of dust per acre. It has 
been recommended to ferment the bone dust before 
sowing; and Mr. Colman; in his Report, says: “the 
most successful application of bone manure which I have 
known was where they were mixed at the rate of about 
one part to eight, with leached ashes, or mold, and a 
fermentation brought on, before they were applied. They 
were then spread lightly in the furrow, where carrots 
were sown. The effects were most favorable, and sur¬ 
passed a free dressing of barn manure, to the same kind 
of crop.” Mr. C. does not name the quantity used per 
acre. 
We shall be happy to receive an account of Mr B.’s 
experiments. _ 
DANA’S MUCK MANUAL—SWAMP MUCK. 
Our correspondent, “K. G.” of Voluntown, Ct., who 
inquires respecting the subjects here named, is inform¬ 
ed, that Dr. Dana’s Manual, is to be found at any of the 
principal bookstores in our cities, and that the price of 
the last and best edition is 62i cents. As to our opin¬ 
ion respecting the work, we repeat what we have before 
said* that it is the best treatise on manure yet publish¬ 
ed. * “ K. G.” says he has abundance of swamp muck 
on'his farm. If he has, he has the means of rendering 
what is now ‘ poor and unproductive,’ rich and fertile. 
His deposits of swamp muck are a mine of vvealth; and 
let him carry out the practice recommended in the Man¬ 
ual by mixing muck and manure, in the proportion of 
one’-third of the latter to two-thirds of the former; or, 
by composting and fermenting in any other way, and he 
will find the utility of the method ^ at once. Pond mud, 
formed by running streams, is different from swamp 
muck; as it does not require fermentation, or compost¬ 
ing, but may be applied at once to the soil. Perhaps one 
of the best methods of using muck, is to cover the yards 
in the fall of the year with it, to the depth of a foot. 
