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VOL. XLVIII NO, 2051. NEW YORK, MAY 18, 1889. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1S89, by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
fieltr Crops. 
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“ALL FLESH IS GRASS.” 
HOWTO IMPE07E MEADOWS 
WHAT GRASSES ARE FAVORITES? 
WHAT TOOLS ARE USED ? 
HINTS ON 
Seeding, 
Curing, 
Handling, 
Fertilizing, 
Feeding, 
Selling. 
QUESTIONS. 
1. What grasses are sown for hay in your 
county? Do you favor early or late cut¬ 
ting? Why? 
2. Give a list of improved haying tools in 
general use. 
3. How ojten do you seed down ? With what 
crops? What season? 
4. What is the average yield per acre and 
what manures are used ? 
Any new grasses or substitutes tried 
recently? 
9. What, in your opinion, is the best way to 
increase the productiveness of our mead¬ 
ows ? 
MEADOWS AND HAY. 
C. S. RICE. 
In this vicinity meadows are usually seeded 
with a mixture of Red clover and Timothy. 
If six or eight quarts of Timothy and the 
same amount of clover seed are sown to the 
acre on laud in fine condition, a good stand 
will usually be obtained, and from two to 
three tons of excellent hay can be cut from an 
acre at one cutting. If the crop be cut when 
the clover is in full bloom and rightly euied, 
the hay will be far more valuable,'not only 
for cows but for all kinds of stock, than it will 
be if cut later in the season. 
Early cutting of such a meadow also insures 
a large amount of after-growth that can be 
cut and cured for hay or used as pasture for 
the dairy through August and September and 
a part of October. I have used the second 
crop for pasture for the last 15 years with 
great profit to the dairy and no damage to the 
meadows. The cows may be turned on when 
the feed is eight or 10 inches in bight, and a 
large amount of excellent feed can be saved 
through the fall without feeding so closely as 
to injure the next year’s crop. 
Good land seeded as above stated, will con¬ 
tinue to yield two tons of hay to the acre for 
three to five years without manure except 100 
pounds of plaster to the acre for the first and 
second years while the clover forms the larg¬ 
est portion of the crop. This result is obtained 
in spite of the pasturing, which is generally 
thought to be ruinous to meadows. No doubt 
the clover roots decaying in the soil greatly 
increase the crop of Timothy in the third and 
fourth years. 
The value of clover for hay and of its roots 
for manure is so great, and the large after¬ 
growth of a newly seeded meadow is so cer¬ 
tain that it is not best to let land remain in 
Timothy if the yield falls below two tons at 
one cutting. It is true that the yield may 
be kept up by top-dressing, but the profit aris¬ 
ing from manure used in this way will not be 
so great as when it is applied while the land is 
being tilled for the growth of other crops. 
The benefit of manure is not as lasting when 
applied on the surface of a meadow as when 
thoroughly mixed with the soil just before 
seeding. 
The best method by which to improve mead¬ 
ows is improved general farming. Feeding 
clover and gram, and saving rich manure 
in a water-tight gutter with plenty of suita¬ 
ble absorbents, will do much to insure suc¬ 
cess. A soil made fine and free from weeds by 
thorough and careful tillage is essential to the 
best results. My experience has proved that 
with a course of ordinary farm crops and a 
limited amount of labor, good meadows may 
be secured and a fair profit realized by man¬ 
agement about as follows: 
A field of six acres.tbat has been in meadow 
for four years and has yielded an average of 
more than two tons to the acre, besides giv¬ 
ing a large amount of pasture each year, was 
manured last fall with 12 large loads of rich 
manure to the acre. As it is now a good Tim¬ 
othy sod it would, no doubt, yield two tons to 
the acre this year, but greater piofit can be 
made by plowing and drilling corn for fodder. 
Next year potatoes will be raised there, bone 
and ashes being used as a special manure. 
The third year another application of 12 or 15 
loads of stable manure to the acre will be 
made and the field seeded with barley, peas 
and oats mixed, for the grain crop, and eight 
quarts of Timothy, and the same of clover 
seed to the acre for meadow. I formerly 
seeded with wheat or barley, but wheat is not 
a profitable crop now and a good stand can 
usually be secured with mixed grain. I think 
that the good effects of bone and ashes used 
on the potato crop extend to the grass for 
many years. During the next three years 
this field will receive thorough cultivation 
with the best] improved tools for the crops 
mentioned, and, judging by past experiments, 
I shall confidently expect fair profits and a 
good meadow for at least four years there¬ 
after. If it were convenient to employ more 
help on the same land, I would, for profit and 
rapid improvement of the soil, adopt a four- 
year course, raising corn-fodder and potatoes 
on clover and Timothy sod the first year, and 
re-seeding the second year with tho mixed 
gram, and cut clover and Timothy the third 
and fourth years aud then plow again. Al- 
sike clover makes good hay, but does not 
yield much aftermath and can never fill the 
place of Red clover in the improvement of the 
soil. 
I have used millet and Hungarian grass for 
soiling crops and for hay, but I do not culti¬ 
vate them now. Clover and corn are more 
profitable for soiling and also for winter feed. 
I have tried Orchard grass, but would not use 
it for meadow if the seed were furnished 
gratis. On low land not suitable for growing 
corn and potatoes, I have used the meadow 
mixture sold by seedsmen for permanent re¬ 
sults. An occasional top-dressing in the fall 
will secure a good yield of hay, and it can be 
cut later in the season than clover or Timo¬ 
thy and still be of good quality. The hay is 
relished both by horses and cattle. If cut 
early, it gives very good after-feed. The sod 
formed by this mixture will remain uninjured 
where clover and Timothy would be thrown 
out by the frost and killed. 
Hay should be cured with as little exposure 
to sun and wind as possible. It should he 
raked as soon after cutting as it is sufficiently 
made so that the rake will do good work, and 
if the weather is fair, it may be cured in the 
windrow. If there is danger of rain it should 
be cocked. For 14 years I have used Faust’s 
hay loader with the best satisfaction, and most 
of the hay has been raked while quite heavy 
and has been cured in the windrow for con¬ 
venience in loading, and the labor of cocking 
is thereby saved. Very little damage has 
been done by rain or dew. There are no hay 
tedders in use in this neighborhood and I do 
not think that I have any use for such a tool. 
I have used a horse fork for unloading for 30 
years. The double-harpoon fork is, I think,the 
best. An agent put up a hay carrier on trial 
a few years ago, but soon removed it as it did 
not give as good satisfaction as the usual 
method with pulley blocks alone. Our mows 
are quite large, extending 30 feet back from 
the floor; but by hitching the fork in different 
places, much of the labor of mowing a way is 
saved, and the team has a less distance to 
travel than with the carrier, and the unload¬ 
ing is done in less time. A drive-way con¬ 
venient to the main floor i$ reserved for the 
use of the team in unloading and all the mows 
can be filled without changing the cart to 
which the rope is attached, to different places. 
This drive-way is afterward used for storing 
straw. 
To improve the meadows on an upland farm 
in Northern New York I would feed all the 
hay and grain raised on the farm. I would 
keep improved stock that will pay a profit on 
purchased grain feed. I would buy and feed 
a large amount of bran, .corn-meal and cotton¬ 
seed meal, and carefully manufacture and 
apply a large quantity of manure to tilled 
crops. 
I would use a large amount of grass and 
clover seed. I would wor k the soil thoroughly 
with the best improved tools. By a well ar¬ 
ranged rotation of crops, I would do away 
with old meadows entirely. A 100-acre farm 
so managed will afford more profit than 200 
acres largely devoted to old pastures and old 
meadows. 
Lewis Co., N. Y. 
THE QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
L. F. ALLEN. 
For hay in the city markets Timothy is 
most in use as horse feed, though it is not, in 
my opinion, really the best, but it is popularly 
preferred. For best consumable quality it 
should be cut when iu early bloom, with the 
blue shade on the head when cut. Later, 
when full-grown and ripening seed is formed 
the stalk becomes hard and woody, and of 
largely decreased value in nutrition. A good 
way to seed it is to sow it in September with 
a crop of wheat or rye—six or eight quarts to 
the acre—and the next spring sow four quarts 
of common clover with it, or two quarts of 
Alsike clover, as the latter’s seed is but half the 
size of that of the common Red clover and 
the quantity mentioned will give as many 
roots to the acre as double the amount of the 
other will do. This latter mixture of the 
seeds is for ordinary stock feeding on the 
farm; yet in my opinion, from many years’ 
experience, it produces hay equally good for 
horses. 
There are several kinds of mowing machines 
in general use. Each is preferred according 
to the tastes of those who use it, and most of 
them are good. When the crop of grass is 
heavy, the horse wheel spreader should be 
used, as it dries the hay in much les8 time, 
and makes a great saving of manual labor 
over spreading with the fork in the old-fash¬ 
ioned way. When sufficiently cured—not 
absolutely dry—the hay may be gathered in¬ 
to the wagon either from the windrow or 
cock. 
When the crop runs out, either by previous 
drought or poverty of soil, plow the ground 
and seed anew with a grain crop and a gen¬ 
erous application of barn-yard manure—Tim¬ 
othy in the fall or spring. Clover should al¬ 
ways be sown as early in th9 spring as possi¬ 
ble when the frost is out of the ground. 
The amount of yield per acre will depend 
upon the fertility of the soil, ranging from 
one to three tons. The usual average on our 
farms is about one and a half ton, depending 
on the extent of rains we have. A wet May 
usually gives a fair crop of hay, and if the 
rains extend into June, all the better. A 
very dry spring diminishes the crop severely. 
I formerly used the common Red elover 
mixed with Timothy seed, but it usually stays 
in the ground not more than two years for a 
crop. For the past four or five years, I have 
substituted Alsike, as its fibrous roots hold 
longer in the soil, and, branching from near 
the root, it makes finer hay, and all kinds of 
stock like it in preference to the Red as sweet 
er and finer in quality. If mixed with Tim¬ 
othy it blooms some days later than the Red 
variety and comes in better season with Tim¬ 
othy and lasts as long in the soil. The common 
Blue grass, cut in proper season, makes excel¬ 
lent hay for ’all kinds of stock; but being 
shorter in growth, the crop is much lighter 
than that of Timothy or clover. Orchard 
grass makes a fair quality of hay, coming for¬ 
ward earlier in the season than any of the 
others, and it should be cut when just coming 
into bloom; if left later the stalks become 
coarse and woody, not much better than 
early cut oat straw. When Red clover is 
grown with it, the clover blooms later and 
they are uot exactly in unison with each other. 
For some years I so grew them, but have now 
abandoned the practice. For pasture, a mix¬ 
ture of Orchard grass with Blue grass and the 
clovers is exceedingly valuable, as it grows 
rapidly after feeding off, which the others 
often fail to do. For dairy cows clover hay 
is altogether the best, and for the most eco¬ 
nomical use should always, as with the grass 
hay, go through the cutter. 
Barn-yard manures, either coarse or rotted, 
are the best fertilizers for meadows, aud 
spreading them early from the Kemp ma¬ 
chine is altogether the most economical way 
of applying them, and if any be unevenly 
spread, as may sometimes be the case from 
want of uniformity in composition, a smooth¬ 
ing harrow should be applied, which will 
spread the manure in perfection. Chemical 
manures may also be added if necessary, but 
they are not so lasting in their effects. Ou 
light soils, gypsum, applied just as the crop is 
