400 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
<J15W£ 43 
straight stalks keep the clover from falling 
Where pasture is desired, Orchard Grass adds 
greatly to the value of lbe clover field. It 
furnishes a variety, recovers quickly after 
mowing or heing eaten down, and comes early 
and furnishes more succulent growth after 
August than clover or Timothy. It is not ap¬ 
preciated, aud isneglected by farmers because 
t.he seed is more difficultto sow and is more ex¬ 
pensive than clover or Timothy per acre. Its 
chief value is for pasture; I prefer clover or 
Timothy for bay. It may be sown iu the Pall 
with Timothy or early in Spring, and will en¬ 
dure almost as much severe treatment as blue 
Grass. I used to think it would endure harder 
usage than Blue Grass, but 1 fiod that where 
it was pastured late and close last Fall, much 
of it has winter killed. 
As to keeping meadows free from White 
top, which usually takes possession of those 
sown with wheat in Ohio, my experience 
shows that the pest can best be kept out by 
thoroughly preparing the seed bed as above 
indicated, so as to insure an even, thick 
stand of Timothy. Should White-top appear, 
it takes but a short time to go through after a 
rain and pull it when in bloom. It can be 
pulled easily then. Pulling it twice usually 
exterminates it. Iu neglected land it may 
be necessary to repeat as often as the pest ap¬ 
pears. The farmer, who hates weeds and 
loves clean hay, will not hesitate to attack 
them as often as they may appear. 
Oxford, Ohio. 
A. C. GLIDDEN. 
It is a question of moment to farmers, when 
preparing for a permanent meadow, to know 
what grasses will succeed best, and be of most 
value when made into hay; and it is a question 
of more importance to those farmers who have 
no permanent meadow, but who year after 
year plow up their fields which have been in 
grass or clover, and renew them on other 
fields. In this rotation, a failure to secure a 
good stand of suitable grass, is a catastrophe. 
If there were not so many failures of the 
standard plants suitable for forage, the 
experience of every farmer would loug 
ago have determined what was most suitable 
for his soil and locality. Failures have led to 
inquiry into the qualities and adaptability of 
different plants to take the place of those 
which have failed. 
At the Agricultural College of Michigan, 
Professor Beal had collected,in 1880,about 280 
kinds of grasses, millets and clovers, which 
have at sundry times been recommended for 
forage or pasture grass. The agricultural 
papers have published the results of many ex¬ 
periments, and yet there seems to be a call for 
something which shall combine the virtues of 
all the rest, which is a vain hope. A better 
understanding of the nature of those we have, 
and of the best methods of culture, is a more 
commendable study. 
Standing at the head of all forage plants, 
Medium Clover is the best for the farmer who 
practices mixed husbandry. It wi 11 thrive in 
every agricultural State, and its failures may, 
in a large measure, be obviated by a better 
understanding of its needs. Mammoth Clover 
will often furnish a larger bulk of hay at one 
cutting, but it starts late in Spring, and fur¬ 
nishes less aftergrowth, so that in quantity, 
even during the season, the Medium Clover 
will furnish as large an amount of pasture or 
hay, and the quality is greatly superior. Al¬ 
falfa and Alsifee are unreliable for the general 
farmer; they have been tested in various 
localities and have failed to win a permanent 
place in tbe economy of the farm. 
A bushel of clover contains between 15 aud 
16 millions of seeds. A peck to the acre would 
give 87 seeds to the square foot. One quart 
to the acre would be 10 seeds, aud from this 
it is easy to determine bow many seeds would 
stand on each square foot of land with a given 
number of quarts to the acre, supposing every 
seed to be perfect and grow. But about 20 
per cent., on the average, is imperfect, and 
frequently 25 per cent, of the remainder fails 
for waut of a suitable place for germination. 
Clover seed is frequently thrown upon, the 
surface of the ground, with little thought as 
to how it is to be covered, trustiug, perhaps, 
that every little crevice will receive a seed; 
but what of those which fall on “6tony places,” 
aud have no “depth of earth?” In clayey soils 
the surface lumps will often dissolve, iu the 
Spring, sufficiently to cover clover seed; but 
it will not do to trust to such a covering on a 
sandy soil; the particles of 6and are heavier 
than the seeds, and will wash under instead of 
over tbem. Where clover seed Is sown on 
sandy soil, it must be harrowed or rolled in, 
or failure is almost sure to follow. 
If four quarts of clover seed are sown on an 
acre and suitably covered, there is plenty of 
margin for wasted and poor seed, enough will 
grow of the 44 seeds, to stock every square 
foot with its quota of plants. Seed should be 
sown in the Spring as soon as the ground set¬ 
tles, and will allow of being worked. A well 
rooted plant will withstand drought better and 
be able to hold its own in tbe strife with other 
plant growths about it. 
We bear a good deal about early cut bay, 
and many writers would still advocate that 
extreme. A misapprehension of the lesson 
which an analysis teaches, is the cause- of 
much of this ill-advised discussion. Early- 
cut hay, or that which is cut before or iu early 
bloom, does show a greater per cent, of diges¬ 
tible food; but there is much less of it. The 
shrinkage is great, from the amount of water 
which it contains. There is a period between 
the early bloom and after-flower, iu which all 
plants intended for hay, should be cut, to 
procure the digestible food stored therein. 
The chemist separates these food qualities, 
aud calls them by hard, unpronouncable 
names which are Greek to the average farmer. 
[Yes, and to the scholar also.— Eds.] Some 
of these do not appear in the early stages of 
plant growth, and others disappear, or are 
changed iuto woody fiber as the plant begins 
to ripen following the bloom, so that tbe 
period of full bloom is the most likely to en¬ 
trap all the qualities which go to make a per¬ 
fect food. It one desires quality for bis own 
use at the expense of quantity, he will begin 
to cut two or three days sooner than he 
who sells his hay by the ton. The opera¬ 
tion of curing hay is very much simplified 
when the work is delayed until a large 
proportion of the water in the plant has been 
evaporated by Nature’s processes. Under tbe 
hot sun and upon the dry soils of Michigan, 
clover hay cut in tbe afternoon, is often left 
until the next day, when it is raked in wind¬ 
rows, bunched and carried direct to the barn. 
This saves a large amount of handling and 
the bay comes out bright and sweet from tbe 
mow in Winter. A mixture of one third or 
one-fourth of Timothy with clover, when tbe 
product is intended exclusively for hay, is 
sometimes desirable. The shallow-rooted 
Timothy and the deep-rooted clover seem to 
thrive equally well, without robbing each 
other. The crop stands up better, is haudled 
more easily, and is more salable, when se ling 
is an object to the farmer. Timothy seed 
succeeds best sown in the Fall, and, where the 
land is flat and alluvial in its nature, it is un¬ 
doubtedly the best plant for a permanent 
meadow. It sells best in the markets, bales 
very readily, and wastes less than any hay, 
except, perhaps, Red Top. This last succeeds 
well on overflowed bottoms, but does not pro¬ 
duce as much to the acre as Timothy. 
Millet, Hungarian and Orchard Grass are 
poor substitutes for a good meadow of clover 
or Timothy, although they can serve, on oc¬ 
casion, to supplement, tbe loss of these more 
valuable products. The search for new varie¬ 
ties of plants to take the places of the unde¬ 
sirable old, is commendable; but the forage 
plant that cau take the place of clover and 
Timothy for hay, is yet tangling the soil of 
some undiscovered country. 
Paw Paw, Mich. 
F. P. ROOT. 
Amongst the most important branches of 
husbandry, is that of growing and making 
hay. To produce the finest quality there are 
two essential points; the quality of grass, aud 
the mode by which it is manufactured into 
hay. There is no one variety of grass so desir¬ 
able as a mixture of a number of kinds, a9 is 
found in old-established meadows; but such 
meadows in our country are seldom profitable, 
especially on our dry, arable lands. The 
American farmer, as a rule, will find his best 
interests in a course of mixed husbandry, em¬ 
bracing grain, grass, and stock growing or 
fattening, and this necessitates frequent seed¬ 
ing, and with frequent seeding we cannot 
dispense with clover, for on our dry lands 
nothing of equal value cau be substituted for 
it. It is not, however, best to rely upon clover 
alone. One or two varieties of grass with one 
or two of clover will always make the best 
and most profitable seeding. It is a fault of 
many farmers that too little grass seed is sown, 
and often too much grain. Of the clovers the 
Medium Red is the most grown,and is doubtless 
the most valuable, on a majority of our soils; 
on light sandy lands tbe large Pea-vme is 
profitable. Alsike is valuable for pasturage, 
but for hay making, or as a soil renovator, it 
will not compare with Red Clover. It is, how¬ 
ever, well to mix Alsike with other clovers in 
seeding. 
To secure a perfect seeding, I have found 
the following quantities of seed profitable: 
eight pounds Red Clover, two pounds Alsike, 
four quarts Timothy seed, aud one or two 
bushels Orchard Grass per acre. Such quan¬ 
tities will usually insure a good catch, if sown 
in tbe month of March, or early iu April, be¬ 
fore freezing of the surface soil is passed. As 
a rule, grass seed will do better if sown iu 
October; clover in Spring. For profitable 
farming, all seeding can be done on wheat or 
rye; but if desirable to get an early grass * i 
crop, the land may be fitted and sewn to grass 
and clover without grain, and a crop of grass 
may be cut late the first season. To insure a 
catch of seed in dry seasons, sow two or three 
hundred pounds per acre of mixture of super- 
pboshate and gypsum, unless it was sowu with 
the grain. On dry grain-lands, it is not profit¬ 
able to mow but two years, before plowing and 
re-seeding; clover will not last beyond the 
second year for a full crop. Meadows thus 
seeded will afford an excellent quality of hay, 
and a large return per acre; and there Is no 
hay that is better relished by all farm stock, 
or that will keep them in better thriving con¬ 
dition than when clover is in large proportion. 
It was a rule in former years to cut clover 
when passing out of blossom, or when one-half 
the heads were turned brown. This is too 
late by several days. Clover should be cut 
when iully in blossom and before any heads 
are snuffed. The Timothy intermixed, will 
not be at full maturity, or in full blossom, but 
will make a better and sweeter quality of bay 
than when further advanced. Much depends 
upon the process of making clover bay. to 
preserve its peculiar excellence. It cannot be 
made properly by tbe old rule of “making bay 
when the sun shines,” or only when the sun 
shines, for to dry clover when spread on the 
ground sufficiently to keep in mow, will waste 
one-half its value, by the leaves and blossoms 
becoming over-dried, so as to fall off in hand¬ 
ling: and, besides, tbe sweetness and beauty 
of the hay will be lost, by discoloration, by 
dews and rain before fully cured to go iuto 
mow. 
To make a fine quality of clover hay re¬ 
quires care and skill. First, it should not be 
mown when wet with dew or rain, but cut 
when dry, to remain until fairly wilted, say 
from nine o’clock till three in good hay 
weather; or if mown late in the day, it should 
lie till noou of tbe next day; the green grass 
will not be injured by the dews at night, or 
even rain, before it is wilted. It should theu 
be raked and put into snugly trimmed cocks of 
about one hundred pounds each. Here it 
should stand some two or three days to sweat 
and cure. Tbe cocks are upset for a few 
hours to air out; it will then be in condition 
to go into the barn or stack. If the center of 
the cock feels a little moist, the handling aud 
mixing will secure it against heating in mow, 
for it will be only tbe juices of the grass, 
which after once sweating in cock, will not 
beat again in mow. Hay made in this way 
will retain its green color and the aroma of 
newly mown hay till taken out of mow; nor 
will dusty hay be found when taken out in 
Winter or Spring, aud tbe cattle will show 
that they appreciate your good sense in hay 
making. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
T. D. CURTIS. 
The favorite crops for fodder are Timothy 
and clover, and it i8 difficult to get our farm¬ 
ers to try any other. The seeding is usually 
done in tbe Fall, with some kind of winter 
grain. But Timothy, when it grows rank and 
is permitted to get ripe before cutting, is very 
wood}’ and little better than pea-straw in the 
same condition. Grown on tbin soil, so as to 
be fine, aud cut before it blossoms, it makes 
excellent feed, but gives a light yield, So of 
clover, tbe coarse variety, especially when 
ripe, has hut little nutritive value; but the 
smaller kinds, cut in bloom—before any of the 
heads have turned dark—tben cured in the 
cock, after fairly wilting in the sun and air, 
are highly nutritious. A mixture of these 
with Timothy makes a nicely balanced ration; 
but unless grown on rank soil, which makes 
both coarse and deteriorates the flavor, they 
do not give a heavy yield. Besides, Timothy 
has a bulbous root and cannot very well stand 
drought or the rays of tt\e hot sun immedi¬ 
ately after mowing. Another difficulty iu 
growing tbem together is, that tbe clover 
matures firet and is almost always allowed to 
get too near, or quite ripe before mowiug 
begins. This greatly reduces its feeding value. 
The two grasses, therefore, would do better 
grown separately, so that the clover may be 
cut in early blossom, even while some of tbe 
heads are not yet opened, and the Timothy 
be cut just before blossoming, or iu early 
bloom. If in full blossom, tbe hay is not only 
too ripe for milch cows, but the blossoms 
make tbe hay dusty — a bad thing In bay. 
especially for horses. Only those grasses or 
forage plants should be grown together for 
hay that mature at the same time, otherwise 
one must always be overripe and the other 
underripe when cut. it would be otherwise 
for pasture purposes, where different grasses, 
maturing at different times, are desirable. 
As to degree of ripeness for bay, the exper¬ 
iments of Prof J. W. Sanborn, of the Mis¬ 
souri Agricultural College, go to show that 
early cut hay is best for dairy purposes; but 
hay cut when the grass or clover seed is in the 
milky or doughy state, is best for growth and 
tbe development of muscle. But it is uot 
profitable to let either get fully ripe. 
Orchard Grass is a most excellent bay plant, 
but it requires a rich soil, aud it is difficult to 
get a good catch,or close sod. W ben it catches, 
it grows in stools, and then seldom covers the 
ground; but once started and well fed, it 
yields enormously. I heard Hon. Harris Lewis 
say that one season he measured no less than 
nine feet of growth at four different cuttings. 
It must by no means be permitted to get ripe, 
or to attain a near approach to ripeness before 
cutting. If it does, there is a large develop 
ment of woody fiber, and tbe hay is nearly 
worthless. But cut it early—not only before 
blossomirg, but before fully beaded—and it is 
cured grass when made into bay, aud with a 
judicious feeding of grain, will make grass- 
butter tbe year round. It is usually ready to 
cut the first or second week in June. This 
early maturity and rapid growth, with excel¬ 
lent drought-resisting power, makes it 
superior for soiling and to eke out the short 
pastures in Bummer. A well-sodded pasture 
of Orchard Grass is a thing to admire as well 
as for use and profit. Like clover, this grass 
will grow wherever corn will do well. 
June or Kentucky Blue Grass, is another 
splendid grass, that will flourish wherever 
Timothy or clover will, and will even staud a 
wetter soil. There is nothing better for beef, 
and it does not Jack in butter and cheese- 
producing qualities. It makes superb pasture. 
For bay. cut it early, before blossom. In¬ 
deed, all our grasses are preferable for hay 
when cut early, and there is this additional 
value in early cutting, that the roots are not 
so much affected by drought, aud tbe young 
shoots start up more quickly aud thrive mor e 
luxuriantly. 
As to quantity of seed, that is generally 
pretty well understood by the farmers, and all 
dealers can give information on this point; 
but the quantity should vary with the rich¬ 
ness aud condition of the soil if not with 
locality and time of seeding. It is poor econ¬ 
omy to stint in seed. A rich soil requires less 
than a poor one, as it will not only germinate 
a larger per cent., but induce a better growth 
and more rapid spreading. In seeding in the 
Fall with some grain crop, less seed is re¬ 
quired. Many experiments point to the ad¬ 
vantage of sowing grass seed alone, to develop 
a crop by itself. This may be done in the 
Fall, at Nature’s seeding time, or early in the 
Spring. In either case, the ground should ba 
well prepared and freed from weeds, so as to 
afford a good seed-bed and give the tender 
shoots a chance. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
My usual practice has been to sow seeds 
such as Clover, Timothy or Herd’s Grass, 
aud Red Top, with any crop of grain. More 
grass seed is sown in this vicinity with oats 
than with any other grain, from the fact that 
there are many more acres of oats than of any 
other. Wheat is considered the best crop to 
seed with, but wheat is not one of our leading 
crops. Our farmers usually sow their oats on 
ground that produced corn or potatoes the 
year previous and that was enriched with 
fresh barn-yard manure for these crops; hence, 
is well calculated to give the new seeding 
a vigorous growth. The great, and apparent¬ 
ly the only drawback to this method, is the 
drought so common here at harvest time, and 
this is sometimes so severe that when the 
grain is cut and taken from tbe field, tbe 
young grass plants are scorched and killed 
outright. A few’ timely showers after har¬ 
vest will be of tbe utmost importance to the 
new seeding, aud in such seasons of dripping 
showers iu the last of Bummer and early Fall, 
grass seeding is almost uniformly successful 
when the seed has been sown in the Bpring with 
oats; a failure under euch circumstances is 
hardly possible where the soil has been well 
fitted, and the grain and grass seeds have been 
sown iu good season. 
In seeding to grass with wheat, Timothy or 
Red Top, or both, are sown usually in the 
Fall, and tbe clover seed in the Spring. Some 
sow the latter in the Fall also with success. 
Borne farmers prefer to do so rather than 
wait till Spring, claiming the most satisfac¬ 
tory results from this practice: while others 
seed more successfully in Spring. 
I have sown gross seed alone for pasture 
and cut a good crop of Timothy hay tbe fol¬ 
lowing August. In order to do so, the ground 
must be in good tilth aud rich, and a moist 
Bummer is desirable. 1 have seen good crops 
where ouly four quarts of Timothy seed were 
sown to the acre; also where four times that 
amount were sown. For cattle aud sheep 1 
prefer a liberal sprinkling of clover, and 
especially of White Clover, for the finest 
quality of hav. The time to cut and method 
of curing bay every farmer should decide for 
himself by experiment. 1 prefer to cut be¬ 
fore the seed is ripened—about midway be¬ 
tween blossoming and the maturing of the 
seed As every farmer cannot cut all his hay 
at just the best time, it Is w ise to begin early 
enough to get through before there is much 
waste by overripeuiug. 
Rome, N. Y. 
