TWO DOLLARS A TEAR.] 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS, 
MOORE’S RURAL 5EW-Y0RKER, 
AN ORiniNAI. WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE COKPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS 
tio of fifty upon any other subject to one on herb¬ 
age. Let a farmer make an inquiry relative to this 
product, calling for the experience of those en¬ 
gaged in its culture, and, ten chances to one, the 
desire for knowledge will go begging. Start an 
idea upon anything else you please, and treat it in 
the least degree outre, and in a week's time you 
will find a vast number ready to class yon among 
the false prophets. For instance, breathe but a 
word upon the “Chess Question,'’ and our advice 
is “stand from under,’’ if the idea of premature 
burial is at all repulsive, for communications will 
like “ Alps piled on Alps” arise before your start¬ 
led vision. Owing to this lack of interest, or 
seeming want of knowledge of the requirements 
and characteristics of this crop, many farmers are 
not able to avail themselves of the advantages to 
be derived from the eqlture of the best varieties. 
Ihere is a wide difference in the comparative 
value of diflerent kinds of grasses, and even among 
those of the same species, soil, climate, mode of 
cutting aud curing, Ac., Ac., more or less alfect 
their value for general purposes. The farmer 
should bear ia .mind that thia is one of the most 
important crops upon his lands, give it such treat¬ 
ment as will best promote its full development, 
and study closely its nature, and capacities, as 
well as endeavor to ascertain the right, mode of 
managing such a crop from the period of produc¬ 
tion to that of consumption. 
and sweet corn better than any other kind. He 
would advise a variety of food for cou-s, and was 
never troubled with any bad taste in butter when 
the cows were fed partly on turnips. 
stalks, its chief value being in its leaves, which in 
favorable situations grow during the season, and 
form a thick dense mass. It is the species relied 
on for winter pasturage at the South-West. It is 
hut little injured by frost, and a large growth of it 
may be left on the ground in the fall to he fed off 
its flat stem and dark-green color. Dr. Darlington 
suggests that the name “green-grass,” which in 
some neighborhoods is applied to the Poa praten¬ 
sis more properly belongs to the species under 
consideration— Poa compressa —thiB being much 
greener in color than the other. 
The Poa serotlna —Fowl Meadow-grass, Swamp 
Wire-grass, False Bed-Top—is indigenous to Amer¬ 
ica. Being a species on which there has been 
3ome discussion, the following description of it is 
copied from a paper by J.'A. Lapham, in the Trans¬ 
actions of the Wisconsin State Ag. Society: 
“ Culm terete slender, bearing narrowly linear 
leaves, shorter than the internodes, and a long- 
pednncled, ample panicle; branches mostly in 
fives, rough, naked at the base, compound above, 
bearing numerous short pedicelled. two to four 
flowered spikelets; glumes lanceolate, sharp point¬ 
ed; flowers oblong-lanceolate, aentish, obscurely 
nerved, hairy only next the base; lignles conspic¬ 
uous. Perennial; flowers in June and July.— 
Calms two to three feet high. Wet meadows, Ac. 
Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and about Lake Superior. 
Native also of Europe.” 
This species, under the name of Fowl meadow- 
grass, has been known in some parts of New Eng¬ 
land for many years.* It is mentioned in “ Essays 
on Field Husbandry,” published in 1747. The au¬ 
thor, Bev. Dr. Jared Eliot, of Killingworth, Con¬ 
necticut, calls it by the name just given, but 
observes that it is u sometimes c alled Duck-grass, 
and sometimes Swamp Wire-grass.” He says it 
was supposed to have been “ brought into a poor 
piece of meadow in Dedham, Massachusetts, by 
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FH0». C. DEWEY, T C. PETERS, 
Lr. M. F. MAURY, H. T. BROOKS, 
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Intimately connected with tins business of those whose interests 
It soaloualy advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti- 
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addrvJieil to Di D. T. MOORE, Rochester. N. Y. 
For Terms, and other particular*, see last page. 
Kbep Cool: “does wheat turn to chess,” is’nt 
the subject I am on—that's too deep for common 
understandings—but suppose you had some chess, 
what would you do with it ? Put it into some old 
barrels, throw it out into the manure, pour it into 
the road, grind it. I ground some, or rather my 
friend, the miller ground some for me; it was old 
and dusty, and nearly cost him his life, and quite 
exhausted his patience. 
t isiting Mr. Boyd, one of our best farmers, I 
saw him feed his hogs on boiled barley, as I tho't 
at first, but on examination I found it to be boiled 
chess. The diminutive grain ia hot water expands 
as mneb as a boy does when he first puts on broad¬ 
cloth ; pressed between the fingers it appears 
mucilaginous and highly respectable. I told Mr. 
Boyd that I thought he must have improved the 
article, and that I should want to exchange some 
seed with hint, but upon boiling my chess I found 
it (I don’t wish to brag.) about as good as his. I 
don’t know how it is with the long kind, but my 
dumpys will grow and keep tolerably fat on it.— 
The more wheat there is in it the better feed it 
makes, I suppose—but even pure chess boiled will 
keep hogs alive and something more. No good 
farmer will willingly suffer unground or unboiled 
chess to go upon his land. He will separate it 
with the greatest possible care from his chaff and 
not poke it out of doors; but gather it up and 
grind or boil it. I think it should be boiled even 
if it is ground, and I doubt whether it is best to 
grind it. at all;—the millers will be perfectly satis¬ 
fied with that arrangement, I may add that my 
horses and cows eat boiled- 
The chess crop i3 much more valuable than I had 
supposed. I doubted whether even a hog would 
live on pure chess; I am now satisfied that he 
will. If I rightly understood a hint which friend 
Rtcs gave me once, the millers will consent to 
have all the chess taken out of the wheat before it 
is taken to market! I suppose the millers screen 
out a great deal of chess and cockle which they 
throw into the stream, a dead loss, except what the 
fish want—supposed to be very little. 
I have heard of no complaints about the failure 
of the chess crop — it stands our ** seasons ” (the 
wickedest things we have) admirably. It is emi¬ 
nently adapted to our modes of culture—our semi- 
barbarous agriculture! Wheat, with characteris¬ 
tic modesty, refhses to dispute possession of the 
soil and retires. Chess, like the Goths and Van¬ 
dals of old, is aggressive ana expansive. I have 
heard of men who raise more chess than wheat.— 
Its reputation is poor—the “price current” ignores 
it—but it has its merits and we shoul d make the most 
of it, especially ia times of scarcity and high prices, 
I beg pardon—I did’nt mean to—1 can't help it; 
the question will come up “ does wheat turn to 
chess?” My neighbor had proof that it does; it 
grew on the same head with the wheat—the wise 
men saw it and admitted it. Frying into the case 
the chess was found curiously interwoven with the 
wheat, but distinct. Thus another prop has fallen 
from the transmutation theory, unless ike failure 
to unite was a mere freak of nature, which seems 
highly probable as such a union is evidently 
needed. h. t n 
inAT each and every department of labor con¬ 
nected with Farm Husbandry reqnires the ex¬ 
ercise of judgment aud skill, none will deny; that 
the portion of agricultural economy confined to 
the stable and stock yard needB the special atten¬ 
tion and cure of the farmer, all who have suffered 
by the late scarcity of fodder will concede. Never 
in our country was there so general a dearth of 
those products usually depended upon for the sus¬ 
tenance of farm stock; never so much loss to the 
farmer, aud suffering and death; 
tic animals, as during the past Bpring, 
of so disastrous ’ 
of much interest 
FEEDING MILCH COWS 
Among the subjects discussed by the Mass. 
Legislative Ag’l Society, has been the *■ Feeding 
of Cows, with reference to the production of Milk” 
—an important subject everywhere, and one which 
Mass, farmers are generally well qualified to re¬ 
mark upon. Some of the most important facts and 
statements, we condense from the N. E. Farmer, 
for onr readers:— 
J. W. Proctor, of Danvers, remarked that un¬ 
questionably the dairy is one of the most impor¬ 
tant objects of New England farming, hence the 
query whether there is any special mode of feed¬ 
ing cows that will make dairies more profitable, 
was one of high interest. As a general thing, the 
better cows are fed, the better will be their pro¬ 
ducts. I formerly had some experience in butter 
dairying, and the best product wo used to get was 
from one to one and a half pounds per day daring 
the season of milking, say lrom June to Decem¬ 
ber; aud the best feed for the cows was the natu¬ 
ral grasses of the pastures, with plenty of pure 
water. Vlien these failed by reason of drouth, or 
any other cause, recourse was had to the corn-field 
—and the stalks were cut and greedily devoured by 
them. Some said corn-fodder would not produce 
milk, but we found it good for that purpose. 
Col Xewdall, of West Newbury, thought some 
kinds of grasses were better than corn for produ- 
cing milk, and that corn should be permitted con¬ 
siderable growth before it is fed. Cows for the 
dairy would do better not to be milked more than 
nine months in the year. Ho had bad cows that 
gave milk three years in succession, and had calves 
annually. Much judgment should be exercised in 
the selection of cows according to the purpose for 
which they were wauted. Those that give most 
milk are generally not best for butter. He found 
it took a gallou of milk to make a pound of cheese, 
and two gallons for a pound of butter. The value 
of milk for cheese ia diminished by takiDg off the 
cream, but not in proportion to the amount of 
butter produced. Indian meal he thought good 
feed for producing milk. Oil meal was not desira¬ 
ble as a constant food—fed freely it will sometimes 
destroy cows. 
Mr. Fokbrs, from Maine, was trying an experi¬ 
ment to ascertain the comparative value of low¬ 
land grass and clover, for producing milk, and 
found the latter much the best for tho purpose._ 
lie had never made as much milk with any kind 
of feed, aa a mixture of oats and potatoes, the milk 
was also of good quality. 
Mr. Wktukrkll, said a gentleman in Warren, 
who lurnished milk for the Boston market, realizes 
about $50 per year from each cow. Ilia feed is 
principally grass, his farm being natural pasture 
land, never plowed, but sometimes plastered. 
Mr. lhCKiNsoN, of lieatb, said the people of his 
county, (Franklin) who made butter for the Bos¬ 
ton market, expected a cow to pay for herself in 
one year. 1 Ulster does not help pastures in that 
county. 
Mr. Buckminster, of the Ploughman, had found 
it important iu feeding milk cows to feed them 
systematically, and to satisfy them. Feed regular, 
at proper Intervals, not keep the animal eating all 
the time. They require a variety, also, in order to 
keep healthy and give good milk. 
Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, said the best pos¬ 
sible food for milch cows, Is good grass and plenty 
of it. At this time of the year, (April) he cut his 
hay ami mixed with the flue feed, water sweeten¬ 
ed with molasses, so as to to give each cow half a 
pint of molasses In a day, which will add four 
ounces of butter daily. He liked corn for fodder, 
POA PRATENSIS. 
as required. The upper part will get a little 
whitened, but the main portion will keep bright 
and fresh. Even as far north as Vermont, this 
grass, after lying under vhe suow all winter, is 
readily eaten by animals in spring, and they thrive 
on it. Thus a quantity of old grass often enables 
farmers to turn their stock to pasture sometime 
before the new grass grows. The species under 
consideration is highly nutritive, as is proved by 
the gain of all kinds of stock which feed on it_ 
Dairymen are aware of its superiority for butter¬ 
making, and of the superior quality of the butter 
made from it. On dry, sandy soil, it is not partic¬ 
ularly valuable. It makes, in such situations, but 
a light growth, while the tough sward formed by 
its roots “ binds out” other grasses. Perennial 
The Poa compressa —Wire grass—is extensively 
produced, though it is less common than the pre¬ 
ceding species. It is even more hardy than the 
pratensis, and grows where no other grass can 
grow, as on rocks which have only a slight cover¬ 
ing of earth, on steep banks, on gravelly knolls, 
and under trees. It does not produce a great bulb 
hut is, perhaps, the most nutritive grass known.— 
All grazing animals eat it with avidity, and sheep 
are known to fatten faster on it than on any other 
herbage. Its stems keep green after the seed has 
ripened, even keep green through winter, and are 
cropped to the ground whenever animals can get 
at them. Dr. Darlington says, “ cows which feed 
on it yield the richest milk and finest butter.” It 
shrinks less in drying than any other species, and 
makes, in proportion to its bulk, the heaviest, and 
at the same time the best hay, though the yield 
per acre would not be large. Probably it would 
among our domes- 
J. Tho causes 
a state of affairs present subjects 
nor are they, we think, shrouded in 
darkness, but palpable, and fuLl of good, substantial 
teachings for those most directly aflbeted by a do. 
pleted condition of tho granary and hay-mow. 
Among the various reasons for so deplorable a 
matter—iu fact almost the only one assigued_is 
the inclemency of the weather. Cold set iu seve¬ 
ral weeks earlier than is nsaal, while the spring was 
at least a month later. More fodder was doubtless 
necessary to keep stock Over during the past win¬ 
ter than has been needed for several years—but 
we opine that there are sufficient grounds for an 
argument against such a position—that the sins 
charged to that ubiquitous personage, the Weather 
may be traced to other quarters, and that, should 
a suit be instituted in favor of Domestic Farm An¬ 
imals vs. The Farmers, many of thelatter would be 
compelled to plead guilty, or a verdict to that ef¬ 
fect would be brought in when the defendants 
were tried by their peers. It is no doubt true that 
the unfavorableness of the season had much to do 
in producing the exigency, but could not sufficient 
provision have been made to avert so wide-spread 
a calamity had the agriculturist used all the re¬ 
sources in his power—would not a judicious sys¬ 
tem of culture and u thoughtful and careful mode 
of expenditure put far off tho “evil day?” 
Another cause, and probably the most cogent 
one, is the tact that in those portions of the coun¬ 
try where the greatest want prevailed, less laud 
was in pasture and meadow than at any period in 
the past ten years. The exorbitant prices obtainable 
for most of the cereals and certain of the root crops 
have imparted to the farmer a portion of that excit¬ 
ability heretofore supposed to be exclusively a 
habitue of the city, aud the spirit of speculation has 
invaded the hitherto quiet rural home. Present 
reward has been labored for—make haste to get 
rich has been the guiding principle. He who,-two 
years since, was possessed of a few tons of spare 
bay, thought that, as he intended wintering the 
same amount of stock, he could feed a little closer; 
that a certain piece of ntoadow land would yield 
larger returns if put to some other purpose, aud 
last tall thore was takeu therefrom “ a glorious 
crop of potatoes.” One hundred dollars or up¬ 
wards per acre was a brilliant prospeet, aud in too 
many instances, we fear, it dazzled but to betray. 
The foreground was gorgeous; the filling up 0 f 
tho picture was never looked at, much less a 
thought given to it. Tho light was there, what 
need had we of darkness? We did not cull to 
mind the immutable laws of the Great Designer— 
that the work must be finished, though contrary 
to our desires—that shade was necessary to com¬ 
pletion. 
Still another cause is the utter want of care for the 
growth of forage plants exhibited by a large propor¬ 
tion the agricultural community. The subject of 
glasses lifts, we think, received less attention and 
study from the farmer himself thuu any other crop by 
bun produced. As a proof of this statement, we 
aver that the thoughts of the tiller of the soil, as 
committed to paper and published in any of the 
Journals devoted to his interest, will be in the ra¬ 
poa serotina. 
ducks and other water fowl, and therefore called 
by such an odd name.” Of course it is a swamp 
grass, and not suited to arable land. It will live 
but a short time ou soils adapted to grain crops.— 
Neither will it grow on very wet land; its proper 
place is a tolerably well drained bog, or deep and 
moist alluvion. For such situations it is very val¬ 
uable, producing a large quantity of good hay.— 
The stalk is long and slender*, and like that of its 
congener, the Poa compressa, keeps green after the 
seed has ripened and fallen. It does not become 
hard and straw-like by long standing, but is al¬ 
ways soft and pliable. It is called perennial in Mr. 
Lapham’s description. Its tenacity of life, howev¬ 
er, is not great. Farmers who desire to keep up 
its growth, say it should oe allowed to shed its 
seed occasionally, in order that new plants maybe 
produced. 
• The writer of this paper, while on a visit to Illinois 
and Iowa, in the Autumn of 1S56, noticed that wherever 
the natural grasses of the prairies had died out, one of the 
first species to take their place was the Poa pratensis .— 
This was particularly observed In some of the older settle¬ 
ments along the Mississippi river. It did not, however, 
appear as flourishing as it does in some other sections, per¬ 
haps from a deficiency of moisture in flu* soil. 
ESSAY ON GRASSES AND HERBAGE PLANTS, 
BY SANFORD HOWARD. 
[Continued from the Rural of May 9, page 149 ] 
Poa.— The most common of this family is the 
Poa pratensis —Spire-grass, June-grass, Kentucky 
Blue-grass. It abounds from Canada to Virginia 
and Kentucky, and probably in more southern 
sections, though this is the extent of the writer's 
observation in that direction.* It is a hardy grass, 
springing op in many places without being pur¬ 
posely sown. From this oircumstance it is fre¬ 
quently called a natural grass, and the “ uatural 
pastures,” sometimes spoken of in New York and 
other States are in a great degree set to this spe¬ 
cies. l?ut it is not, probably, indigenous to this 
country. Dr. Darlington regards it as a “ natural¬ 
ized foreigner.” It is one of onr most valuable 
grasses, though varying considerably in produc¬ 
tiveness iu diflerent localities. On tolerably moist 
and rich land it makes excellent pasturage. It 
forms the famous “ Blue-grass pastures” of Ken¬ 
tucky. The same Bpecies occupies the celebrated 
grazing grounds of Pennsylvania, the Vermont 
shore of 1 .ake Champlain, and other sections noted 
for good pastures. It starts early in spring and 
grows Into in autumn. Tu severe drouthits growth 
i® more checked, perhaps, than thatof some other 
species. It throws up but little weight of seed- 
• It probably prevail* more extensively than has general¬ 
ly been supposed. Prof. Gray, of Cambridge, states that 
he has seen it ou the upper waters of the Mohawk, and in 
Western New York. 
An eminent physician once remarked to me — 
“Give us plenty of good potatoes and we will 
never starve.” The potato is, indeed, a noble and 
generous root—a great dietetic blessing; and, like 
our Indian com, the boost as well as the native of 
America. This valuable and almost indispensable 
plant, is said to have been originally wild, un¬ 
pleasant to the taste, and poisonous; wholly unused 
by the Aborigines; and to have been brought to 
its present state of perfection by cultivation.— 
There was much prejudice manifested against it 
POA COMPRESSA. 
not be profitable for hay generally, but for pasture 
it is valuable, especially from its adaptation to 
particular situations, as before mentioned. It is 
sometimes regarded as a pest in grain growing 
districts, on account of the diflicnlty of destroying 
it, the roots retaining life under much exposure 
and with hut little moisture. It is easily known-by 
