234 
THE CULTIVATOR 
August. 
which betrays at once the Jersey hue and flavor. In¬ 
deed I understood that Mr. Menry’s samples of butter 
had been once or twice denied the premium at agricul¬ 
tural exhibitions, notwithstanding its evident superior¬ 
ity, from the belief that it was artificially colored —it 
being supposed that no cream was rich enough to pro¬ 
duce it naturally. Mr. McHenry’s dairy is one of the 
neatest and most convenient I have ever visited. The 
ice-house occupies a part of the same building—-the 
dairy being partitioned off on two of its sides. The milk 
is kept upon a stone support or shelf of convenient 
height, hollowed ont to the depth of several inches to 
admit water around the pans, and faced above with 
imported tile of the purest white, giving it a neat and 
cool look that is exceedingly attractive. 
At the stables, beside some other stock, we saw two 
fine imported Percheron mares—a breed worthy of 
wider notice. It derives its name from the district 
from which it comes, Perche , one of the old divisions 
in the west of France, and is a lighter and more active 
branch of the well-known heavy Norman horse. The 
prevailing color is a light or somewhat creamy gray. 
The breed has, I am told, become the most popular in 
France for use before the diligences —uniting sufficient 
spirit and alertness with great strength and endurance, 
to fit them well for dragging these heavy coaches, some¬ 
times at considerable speed, and largely bred in their 
native district and disseminated for this purpose through 
the whole country. There was an importation of them 
some twenty years ago into New-Jersey, among them 
I am informed a horse called “Diligence,” which is 
said to have been subsequently sold to go to the west¬ 
ern part of New-York. This, so far as I am aware, is 
the only instance of their being brought into the coun¬ 
try previous to 1853, when Col. Carroll of Maryland, 
imported for himself the horse “Chartres,” and two 
mares (besides a Norman mare,) and for Mr. McHenry 
the two mareswesaw, ‘ Lily” and “Snowdrop.” The 
two latter have at different times been sent to “ Char¬ 
tres,” but have unfortunately failed to breed to him, 
except in one instance, when the produce, a filly, lived 
but a few days. Each has raised a foal by a half 
Canadian horse of Mr. McHenry’s, and he proposed 
sending them the present seasan to an imported Per¬ 
cheron stallion, “ Duke of Normandy,” now standing 
near Philadelphia, and owned by Mr. S. Holmes of 
Chester Springs, Pa. 
Mr. McHenry has also a select flock of South-Downs, 
three ewes imported in 1856, four brought over last 
year, and the remaining four purchased of Mr. Thorne. 
Before leaving the stock, I may add that a few days 
previous to my visit, he had sold the Jersey bulls 
“ Commodore,” “ Midshipman,” and “ Captain,” to¬ 
gether with several head of young stock, and one or two 
surplus males from his Devon herd. 
I should not close this letter without noticing the 
greenhouses which nearly encircle Mr. McHenry’s 
dwelling, and the statuary and paintings and library 
within—which, together with the broad fields and beau¬ 
tiful objects of animate and inanimate life without— 
supply every luxury of refinement, and sufficient em¬ 
ployment for all one’s mental activity. 
I must conclude for the present, by adding that after 
dinner, in pursuance of Mr. McHenry’s very kind 
offer, we took seats with him for a fifteen mile excur¬ 
sion, to visit the celebrated Devon herd of George 
Patterson, Esq., a gentleman who is, I might almost 
say, known for his connection with this breed wherever 
a sample of it has found its way on the western side of 
the Atlantic. 
-- - -■-•-- 
Curing Clover Hay. 
Eds. Co. Gent.— In your issue of June 17, is an ar¬ 
ticle on curing clover hay, by Caleb Winegar. I 
just wish to notice one thing in said article. He says 
that if the clover is dried without cocking—“if the 
leaves do fall off, they will not hurt the land.” In this 
section of the country we cut clover to feed to stock in 
the winter; when wanted for manure , we plow it un¬ 
der green. Our time for cutting clover is when the 
first blossoms begin to turn brown ; cut it and let it 
wilt; then rake and cock up in small cocks ; let them 
stand from two to six days; turn the cocks wrong side 
up in the morning when the dew is on, thus dampen¬ 
ing the outside and drying the inside. Draw it in in 
the afternoon. If cured right, it will be just a little 
damp. Sprinkle a little salt on each load when stow¬ 
ed away, and it will be heavy, bright hay, worth as 
much to feed as timothy hay and meal. When fed 
to cows and breeding ewes, their udders will be as 
much distended as on good pasture. Our lambs 
usually are dropped in March, and they have just 
as much milk as when the ewes are in the pastures, 
and are no more trouble. If it were not for clover hay 
cured in the manner described, we should lose at least 
one-half. d. a. a. n. 
-« -• m - 
Earth-Mulch for Meadows, 
“An astonishing effect,” says Thaer, “is often pro¬ 
duced from earth being carried to the meadow and 
spread over it,” and tbe same fact has, no doubt, been 
frequently observed. The remark reminded us at first 
glance, of Mr. Dickinson’s practice of mulching his 
meadows with burned turf from the roadside, as well 
as with barn manures, and of his opinion of its highly 
beneficial effect upon the growth of grass, especially 
the former application. 
The effect of this earth-mulch is most sensible when 
its character is appropriate to the soil; so Thaer ad¬ 
vises sand for marshy meadows, clay and muck for 
sandy and loamy ones, but says that any kind of fer¬ 
tile soil will be found beneficial. The scrapings of 
yards and roads, the bottoms of ponds and ditches, 
burned clayey or loamy turf—all have a very sensible 
effect in improving meadows, “ because it gives to the 
herbage a disposition to put forth new roots and 
shoots, especially in the weaker tufts of grass, and 
thus strengthens and multiplies the plants .” 
Pohl, in his Annals of Agriculture, published in 
Germany some fifty years ago, terms this mode of 
spreading fresh earth over the surface of meadows, 
“ a renewing or making young again of meadow land.” 
That such would be its effect we can very readily con¬ 
ceive, for it is well known that earthing any plant 
causes new roots to spring forth, and this is followed by 
new shoots, and should the earth applied be of a ferti¬ 
lizing nature, a considerable improvement would follow. 
A manure-mulch would, no doubt, exert a greater 
effect, if care was taken that it did not smother and 
kill the grass; It should be fine or coarse—fine, well 
decomposed, and not in clods, that it would sink at 
once to the roots of the grass; or coarse and strawy, or 
