1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
479 
common of our native grasses, the Kentucky Blue 
grass, known as the June grass, from its earliness, 
and Spire grass, from the form of its erect panicle. 
Its creeping rootstocks, beneath the surface, secure 
it from material in jury by drought or cold, or the feet 
of animals, and enable a plant of it, within two or 
three years, to cover a space all around it with a thick 
growth of blades that are a first choice of all grazing 
animals. Its greatest trials are from shade and from 
hot sun. If sown just before August rains, its natural 
habit will be most nearly followed, using fresh seed. 
In early sprinsr, however, there is most assurance of 
the needful, cool, damp weather. It will then have a 
safe start before the next crop of sprouts appears ; 
and sheep, turned on them, would not kill it ; but 
they would cripple it, and a sprouting off in August, 
with a heavy, hoe-handled chisel, would be the best 
recourse for the first summer. As this grass abhors 
shade, rye sown with it would be an injury. The 
sown seed needs little or no covering unless birds are 
numerous, or the soil is very dry. The grass known 
as Sheep’s fescue (F. ovina), has very numerous, fine 
blades, more or less wiry in its different varieties. It 
endures our climate well, and does not lose its green¬ 
ness soon either in heat and drought or during win¬ 
ter. But it grows 
in compact little 
tufts, and has no 
capacity for 
spreading other¬ 
wise than by tuft 
enlargement and 
by seed. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
Feed Bran with 
the Sprouts. 
Put a fence 
around the field 
that will hold the 
sheep in and the 
dogs out, and turn 
on the field twice 
as many sheep as 
it will support. 
Do this so as to 
have them eat 
every sprout as 
soon as it starts. 
Of course, it should 
be cut over so that 
no bush is left of 
which the sheep 
cannot reach the 
topmost branch. 
Another thing is 
very essential in a 
permanent sheep 
pasture: they must 
be provided with 
plenty of good, 
fresh water. Sheep 
will live with a 
short supply of 
water, and, pos¬ 
sibly, with none 
except what they 
can get from dew 
and wet herbage 
after rains; but 
they must not be 
expected to thrive 
very well. To do 
their best they 
must have all they need, and if H. has no spring 
convenient, he can furnish this from wells by having 
a large trough, and using a windmill, and letting the 
overflow back into the well. The sheep must be fed 
something supplemental to the pasture, and this he 
can furnish now in wheat bran very cheaply. There 
is no better pasture for sheep than Kentucky Blue 
grass; but I would advise seeding with Blue grass, 
Orchard grass, White clover, Meadow Fescue and Red- 
top, and put on seed in plenty. This may be sown 
immediately following the harrow, and if he wishes 
quick feed, he can sow oats and rye before the har¬ 
rowing—two bushels of oats and one of rye. Many 
will object to the Orchard grass, but if turned on 
early in spring, it makes a very fine pasture grass, 
and sheep are fond of it; and, besides, it grows rap¬ 
idly and persistently, but if left in spring until it has 
got a good start, it becomes coarse and woody, and 
the sheep will not eat it at all. In cutting the brush, 
care should be taken to scatter evenly over as much 
space as possible, but avoiding any spots now well 
set with grass. H. can make a fence with wire and 
pickets very cheaply, that will shut out the dogs. I 
know of no other way in which the weeds and bushes 
can be so quickly subdued, and good grasses so soon 
established as by the use of extra fed sheep. 
New York.- J. ». woodwakd. 
PRETTY PERENNIALS OF THE SEASON. 
SOME OI,D BUT GOOD FLOWERS. 
Passing through a large collection of perennials re¬ 
cently, so many pretty ones attracted my attention, 
that I made note of a dozen or more of the hardiest of 
them for the use of those who wish some of these beau¬ 
tiful plants around their homes. They are not new, at 
least, not all of them ; but they are showy and good. 
One of the first noted was the showy Centauria macro- 
cephala, bearing large golden yellow heads of flowers. 
It grows two or three feet high, makes a fine display, 
and would please almost every one. There were three 
groups of prickly pears or Indian figs in flower—oplo- 
earpa,vulgarisand Rafinesqui. The first named has very 
spiny stems, and bears large, light-yellow flowers. 
The other two could not be told apart by the casual 
observer. They are less spiny than the first named, 
and the flowers are much deeper yellow. These are 
just the plants for dryish, barren places. This 
season, they are uncommonly full of flowers. As is 
generally known, the kinds named are natives and 
entirely hardy. 
Thermopsis Caroliniana is not well known. It is not 
unlike a lupine in general appearance. The plant 
grows to about three feet in height, and produces a 
showy spike of yellow flowers. It will be a popular 
perennial, I am sure. 
Another tall grower is the old but beautiful loose¬ 
strife. From seeds self-sown, there are some semi¬ 
wild plants in a meadow near by, and these are very 
much larger than those in cultivation. The large 
spikes of rose-colored flowers attract a great deal of 
attention. The common alum root is known to most 
persons hereabouts, as it is by no means scarce in our 
woods. There is a species now in cultivation, from 
northern Mexico, called sanguinea, which is a decided 
acquisition. From a base of pretty leaves, flower 
scapes a foot in length arise, well filled with bright 
red flowers, gracefully set along the stem. It contin¬ 
ues in bloom for a month or more. It should not be 
omitted from a collection. Most collections contain 
the yellow Chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria) and 
Coreopsis grandiflora. The former has light yellow 
flowers, the latter, golden yellow and large ones. 
Their long stems and the lasting qualities of the 
flowers make them valuable for cutting for the adorn¬ 
ment of the house. 
Two columbines—Aquilegia chrysantha, and A. 
Skinneri—are flowering now, after all others are 
over. The first-named is the well-known yellow, the 
other is red. Both are desirable. Betonioa officinalis 
is an old inmate of gardens, but rosea is not nearly so 
well known. Its spikes of rose-colored flowers stand 
very erect, many of them together, forming a mass 
which attracts from some distance away. 
Japanese irises should be in all collections. Resides 
being prettier than a great many other sorts, they 
flower in late June, when all others are nearly or 
quite over. For a low-growing, almost prostrate 
plant, bearing red flowers all summer long, the 
Geranium sanguineum may be planted. It makes so 
many leaves and small shoots, that it forms a green 
mat, as it were. Joseph meehan. 
Pennsylvania. 
" CHEMICALS ANO CLOVER ” HOLD 0U1 
THROUGH TUE AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 
With Some New Features Added. 
Part I. 
Eight years ago, The R. N.-Y. began to talk about 
“Chemicals and Clover,” or the system of farming 
conducted by D. C. Lewis and others near Cranbury, 
N. J. The theory of this system of farming is that 
chemical fertilizers and grass sod, used in a five-year 
rotation, will fully take the place of stable manure. 
This theory was 
certainly well 
worked out in 
practice, for, year 
after year, large 
and increasing 
crops of wheat, 
grass, potatoes 
and corn were 
grown and sold 
from the farm— 
no stock being 
kept but a few 
hogs and the 
horses and cows 
needed for work 
and the home 
dairy. 
This system has 
been fully ex¬ 
plained in a pam¬ 
phlet. It is enough 
to say here that 
four crops are 
grown — potatoes, 
corn, wheat and 
grass. The pota¬ 
toes are planted 
after corn, with 
1,500 pounds of 
high-grade ferti¬ 
lizer to the acre. 
After digging, the 
potato ground is 
worked over and 
seeded to wheat 
with Timothy, and 
clever is added in 
the spring. After 
two years or more 
of grass, the stable 
manure is hauled, 
and spread on the 
sod. This is all 
plowed under in 
the spring, and the 
ground is planted 
to corn—to be fol¬ 
lowed by potatoes, 
and so on through the rotation. The large dressing 
of fertilizer on the potatoes is supposed to carry 
through the wheat and grass. In case it is evidently 
needed, extra fertilizer is applied to these crops, but 
generally speaking, the fertilizer used on the potatoes 
answers for potatoes, wheat and grass. A quantity of 
fertilizer is used in addition to the manure, on the 
corn. 
The former stories about Mr. Lewis’s farm were 
written in comparatively “ good times,” when prices 
for potatoes were much higher than now, and before 
the past few seasons of severe drought. The unfavor¬ 
able conditions since then have proved a severe test 
for chemical fertilizers. They represent a cash out¬ 
lay for fertility, while stable manure, obtained in 
stock-farming, represents labor rather than cash. It 
is also claimed against chemicals that they fail in 
time of drought. The money crop of this rotation is 
potatoes, and the low prices of recent years have made 
many farmers weaken on the question of high ferti¬ 
lizing, and cut down the amount of fertilizer used on 
the potato crop. 
This season is, therefore, a good one to see how 
“ Chemicals and Clover” have held out through these 
hard and trying seasons. On June 22, I visited Mr. 
Lewis’s farm after five years’ absence, and had a 
chance to compare crops and figures. The fiscal year 
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SEVERAL CUTWORMS AND THEIR ANCESTORS (Twice Natural Size.) Fig. 156. See Page 480. 
