THE CULTIVATOR. 
87 
EFFECT OF CLOVER HAY ON ANIMALS. 
Some late writers have taken the position that clover 
hay produces a most injurious effect on domestic animals, 
particularly horses, and that to this cause the great in¬ 
crease of diseased horses is to be attributed. We lately 
heard a farmer affirm, that he believed the introduction 
of clover into general cultivation, the greatest curse yet 
inflicted on the country, and assigned as a reason for 
this singular opinion, its effect on animals when used as 
fodder. Late English writers have attributed to this 
kind of hay, the prevalence of heaves in horses, and the 
great increase of other diseases that effect the respira¬ 
tory organs. This is a most important subject, and should 
receive a full investigation. Clover is too important a 
plant to be discarded, or condemned, except upon the 
most satisfactory evidence. Its value as a fertilizer, and 
a preparative for wheat, to say nothing of its use for pas¬ 
ture or hay, would demand that it should not be/,con¬ 
demned unheard. For ourselves, we have very little 
belief in the injurious properties assigned to clover. 
We have used it constantly for pasture and for hay, more 
than thirty years, and never to our knowledge, has an 
animal suffered from it; certainly no horse has been ta¬ 
ken with the heaves while fed on it, or while in our 
possession. As hay for sheep, we have considered it 
unrivalled, and should have no fears that any stock would 
not winter well with a supply of well cured clover hay. 
And here lies, we think, the great source of objection 
to clover hay. It is too often imperfectly cured. To save 
the leaves and the heads, which are apt to fall in hand¬ 
ling or curing, the hay is put into the barn while the 
large stems are full of moisture, or the natural juices, 
and the fermentation which ensues, causes the whole 
mass to become damp, and if not spoiled wholly, it be¬ 
comes mouldy, black, and when used raises such a dust, 
that it is no wonder that horses and cattle are choked or 
their lungs destroyed. Our experience shows that clover 
may be perfectly cured without losing any of its valua¬ 
ble parts; cured so that when fed out, no more dust will 
be flying than from timothy or herds grass, and we shall 
be slow to believe, that from such hay, any injury to 
animals ever ensues. If clover is really guilty of what a 
few have alleged against it; if the difficulty proves to be 
in the plant itself, and not in the preparation of it; then 
it may be necessary to find a substitute—-a task, we think, 
by no means easy. Clover is, however, too well estab¬ 
lished in the good will of the farming community, to be 
easily put down, and we do not deem it likely at present, 
to be sneezed or coughed out of favor. 
COMPOST. 
“ Will you be so kind as to inform me how, in making 
compost of muck and coarse barn yard manure, the lime 
is to be applied, the quantity requisite, and the time oc¬ 
cupied in the process' Conant Sawyer. 
Kecsevile, Jan. 1844.” 
In making composts where lime was used, it was for¬ 
merly the practice to mix it in the pile merely slaked, 
but it was sometimes where used in this way found to 
produce little effect, and Dr. Dana recommends that it be 
prepared by dissolving one bushel of salt in water, and 
with this slaking a cask of lime, the mixture to lie some 
eight or ten days when it is to be incorporated with the 
muck; the above quantity furnishes the alkali required to 
convert three cords of peat or muck to a first rate com¬ 
post. This if shovelled over a few times to allow full 
action and combination, may be applied at once to the 
crop or the soil. If barn yard manure is used in making 
the compost, there should be alternate layers of muck, 
barn yard manure, ashes or lime, until the requisite 
quantity is prepared. The time required to fit this for 
use will depend on the rapidity of the fermentation, tem¬ 
perature of the atmosphere, &c. If convenient compost 
heaps will be the better for being prepared the year be¬ 
fore hand, if they can be kept from the weather. 
Our correspondents inquires respecting Bommer’s pa¬ 
tent for manures will be found answered in our January 
number of the current vol. For that reason alone bavq< 
we neglected to comply with the request made us. 
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL AND PATTERN FARM. 
We would call attention to the article written by 
Dr. Lee, in another part of this No. It appears to us 
that an institution of the kind proposed, would be of great 
importance to the interests of agriculture. If properly 
managed, it would act beneficially in several ways. 
First, it might be regarded as a grand focus for the col¬ 
lection and dissemination of those particles of light upon 
rural pursuits, which are now scattered abroad in the 
world in such an abstract and separate manner, that they 
produce little good to the citizens of our country. We 
want some medium by which these facts that are now thus 
scattered about, one being held by one man, and one by 
another, and so on, may be collected, made plain, and put 
in possession of every man. 
Secondly, such an institution would be a means of ori¬ 
ginating , of developing knowledge. In relation to agri¬ 
culture, there are many subjects of a doubtful nature, such 
as the relative value of the various manures for the differ¬ 
ent kinds of soil, and for different plants. The relative 
value of different breeds of domestic animals, whether for 
the dairy, the stall, or for other purposes, and the most 
profitable means of supporting them. 
Few individuals are competent to make the experi¬ 
ments necessary to solve these questions. More time, 
capital and attention are required, than they can bestow. 
Besides, no one feels that it is his duty to risk his time and 
money on a doubtful subject, when the results, let them 
be what they may, will be of as much consequence to 
the public at large, as to himself. By the aid of such an 
institution as this, all such questions, and others, may be 
put at rest-—and the whole country would enjoy the benefit 
without any individual sacrifice. 
IMPROVING LAND—INQUIRY. 
“ My land is a part of it a clay loam, part a gravelly 
sand 3 and the greater part a tolerably stiff clay; the sub¬ 
soil mostly a stiff clay or hardpan. Most of this land 
has been subjected to the skinning system for a number of 
years, and is now mostly under the plow, and has been 
for several years; the previous owner believing his farm 
too small to seed down oftener than once in 8 or 10 years, 
and then with 4 quarts of timothy to the acre. I have 
sowed about 10 acres to rye, sowed it with timothy, and 
intend to sow it to clover in the spring, at the rate of 8 
qts. timothy and 4 qts. clover per acre. This is all I 
have done, and now I should be glad to know what I 
should do, in order to bring the land into a good state of 
cultivation, with my limited means. 
A Young Farmer from, Greene Co.” 
We advise a Young Farmer to get his land seeded 
down as soon as possible, and for this purpose clover and 
timothy will be as good as any thing. With the amount 
of stock owned by him he can make a large quantity of 
manure annually, if he provides his yards and pens with 
the wash of roads or even common loam to act as an ab¬ 
sorbent. Peat or muck, he says he has none, or there 
w r ould be no want of materials for manure. Cul¬ 
tivate green crops such as buckwheat, corn, or rye to 
plow in as a preparation for other crops. Hardpan or 
stiff' clay soils are usually wet; if his is of this class, 
drain by all means, nothing can be done to advantage on 
cold wet lands. If the soil is stiff, but dry, the subsoil 
plow will perform wonders, in deepening and fitting it 
for crops. If he has 150 acres of land in this condition, 
he has abundant room for experiment as to the best mode 
of recruiting; but where manures were not to be had, 
we have known the best results from plowing in green 
crops, and on these, clover, plaster, &c. we should rely. 
ERRATA. 
In my communication to Solon Robinson, Jan. No. 
1844, page 33, the red cedar is erroneously named cupres 
sus thyoides, which is the name of the white cedar of 
New-Jersey, Long Island, and the Southern States, and 
which we here use for rail fences. Red cedar is the juni- 
perus virginiana, and grows in dry and upland soil, while* 
the other delights in swamps and low grounds. 
RlCHMQNtt 
