THE CULTIVATOR. 
dium of this paper, relating to the seeding of lands designed for 
permanent pasturage and meadow. 1 think it cannot be denied that 
an error exists with the generality of our farmers regarding this part 
of husbandry, as it is but seldom that only two species of grass seed, 
viz: Herd’s grass and clover, are applied to all the different and 
various soils of our country, whether it be sand or clay, loam or 
gravel; whether the soil be wet or dry, whether it be upland or iow- 
land, rich or poor; whether it be designed for durable pasturage or 
mowing, or soon to be ploughed and tilled for grain, these, in nine 
cases out of ten, are the only species of grass which the farmer at¬ 
tempts to cultivate. In this state, and the New-England states, are 
many farms, and indeed many towns, the soils of which will not ad¬ 
mit of the cultivation of grain. The raising of stock, the wool¬ 
growing and the dairy business, are here resorted to as being the 
most advantageous branch of husbandry—hence, it is of the utmost 
consequence that some more durable species of grass should be in¬ 
corporated with the soils, than those above mentioned, which re¬ 
quire to be renewed every two or three years, and which subject 
the farmer to a great disarrangement and loss, especially when the 
soil is not adapted to grain ; it is therefore earnestly hoped that 
some information on this subject will be given. 
_A FARMER. 
RIBBON GRASS. 
Hartford, Conn. Sept. 12, 1834. 
Sir —I recollect, with pleasure, the interview I had with you in 
July, and, on my return home, addressed a line to Dr. A. Harris, of 
Canterbury, Windham county, in this state, relative to the Phalaris 
Americana. The first information I had concerning it, was from him, 
which induced me to visit Plainfield, a town adjoining Canterbury, 
for the purpose of personal examination. Doctor Harris is a dis¬ 
tinguished physician and a gentleman of great worth. He devotes 
much of his leisure to botany and to practical scientific agriculture. 
I have lately received from him a statement, which I have the plea¬ 
sure to enclose, and from which you can, if in your opinion the sub¬ 
ject demands it, prepare an article for publication. 
I am, with sentiments of esteem and respect, 
Your humble servant, 
J. Buel, Esq. ELIZUR GOODRICH, Jr. 
Plainfield , Windham county, Conn. 
Dear Sir —I received a letter from you, a short time since, re¬ 
questing information concerning the ribbon grass, (Phalaris Ameri¬ 
cana.) The grass you saw at Plainfield, on Mr. Woodward’s farm, 
two years since, I was informed, originated from the ribbon grass. 
It was originally cultivated in the garden for ornament, where it 
spread, to the great annoyance of the vegetables. Mr. W. becom¬ 
ing dissatisfied with it, dug it'up and threw it over the wall into the 
mowing lot, where it continued to grow luxuriantly. Being deter¬ 
mined to get rid of it, he again took it up and threw it into the 
brook. It was so tenacious of life, that it seized upon the watery 
element and spread rapidly down the brook, so that in a few years 
it extended down the brook more than a mile; its progress towards 
dry land was more slow, but has eventually spread over a number 
of acres, converting a bog meadow into the best of mowing. Mr. 
Bowen, who lived on the farm, informed me that he mowed it twice 
in the season, and that it produced about three tons to the acre, an¬ 
nually, of excellent hay, which the cattle consumed with as much 
avidity as any that was cut on the farm. 
The meadow was so miry in many places, that cattle could not 
pass, but the grass roots formed such an impenetrable surface, that 
they could cart over it in getting hay, without difficulty; and, in 
some places, they entirely united across the brook, forming a natu¬ 
ral bridge that a person might pass over. The brook is sufficiently 
large to operate a cotton factory which.has been erected aboul, a 
mile below. 
I have taken considerable pains to ascertain the history, charac¬ 
ter and importance of the ribbon grass, and come to the conclusion 
that it was originally an aquatic grass, and that the striped color 
was produced by being transplanted into a dry, gravelly soil. I have 
seen it in a number of places where it had been cultivated for orna¬ 
ment, spreading beyond its boundary and outrooting other grass; 
in these instances, if in the shade or on moist ground, it loses its 
striped colour. In one instance, the roots passed under the garden 
wall into the back yard, and entirely eradicated the other grass, and 
occupied a number of rods of ground, when it grew rank and lost 
its striped colour. I have not been able to ascertain the best mode of 
101 
propagation ; it produces little if any seed that will vegetate. The 
striped grass of the garden. I am confident, does not produce any ; 
for we have cultivated it for near twenty years, and have never 
known a single spear that was produced from seed. The Phalaris 
that grows in wet land, blossoms abundantly, but produces very lit¬ 
tle seed, and that is liable to become fungus, resembling the spurred 
rye. The propagation by transplanting the roots into wet land, 
among the bogs, although attended with but little labor, must take 
considerable time to entirely eradicate the bog grass, as I have prov¬ 
ed by experiment. I transplanted, a number of years since, into a 
bog meadow, some of the grass, and although it took root and grew 
rapidly, spreading among the otiier grass, and even sending up shoots 
in the centre of "bogs, still the bog grass remains. I planted, as an 
experiment, about one-half of an acre of bog meadow with the. Pha¬ 
laris a year last spring, it having been previously ploughed for two 
or three years; it was planted four feet apart each way it all lived, 
and is spreading well, and probably in a few years, will occupy the 
whole ground. I have ploughed up one acre more, and intend to 
plant it in the same way. i also sowed some of the seed last spring, 
procured from grass that grew on wet land, but am not certain that 
any of it has come up. (Shall sow more next spring, and hope in a 
few years to be able to ascertain its importance, and the best mode 
of cultivation. Yours, with respect. 
ANDREW HARRIS. 
Hon. Elizur Goodrich, Jr. 
Mr. Cultivator —From the character of your paper, so far as I 
can judge of it from the seven printed numbers, I think it highly de¬ 
serving of being introduced into our common schools, as a class 
book for the elder boys, at least one or two days in a week. Most 
of the boys in our country schools are to be the farmers, and poli¬ 
ticians too, of the coming generation; and all of them expect, at 
one time or another, to manage a farm or a garden. Early impres¬ 
sions have an abiding influence on the mind ; and what impressions 
so useful as those which have a bearing upon their future usefulness 
—as those in a business in which they intend to get their living 1 — 
The matter in the Cultivator comes home to their employment, their 
understanding, their interests; it is calculated to make them think, 
and compare good with bad farming, to nurture good habits, and to 
excite in them a laudable ambition to become distinguished in their 
business of life. The paper will have a tendency to lay a substantial 
foundation, and to beget in our boys a desire and a resolution, to 
rear themselves, upon this foundation, a noble superstructure of use¬ 
fulness. Judging from my own feeling, and from the benefits I have 
derived from the praciicc of other farmers, through agricultural pub¬ 
lications, I think the public advantages of the arrangement I sug¬ 
gest would be infinitely great. The information which I have ac¬ 
quired in this way, even in ten years of manhood, has been of great 
advantage in my affairs; and I am conscious that the book know¬ 
ledge which I now have, had I possessed it when I started in busi¬ 
ness, would have been of more value to me than $500 capital: so 
true is it, that knowledge is power and capital. Cold, calculating 
cupidity may inquire, how am I to be benefittedl I answer, in the 
general prosperity. The prosperity and happiness of every good 
man is intimately identified with the prosperity and happiness of 
those around him. Those are bad passions, depend upon it, which 
seek gratification in retarding the inarch of intellect and the im¬ 
provements of social life—or depend for enjoyment in encroaching 
on the comfort of others. 
Under a strong impression of public utility, I venture to suggest, 
for the consideration of a future legislature, the propriety of furnish¬ 
ing each common school with half a dozen copies of your paper, at 
the charge of the common school fund. This will amount to $1.50 
for each district; and the cost may be either defrayed from surplus 
moneys, or deducted from the sum apportioned to each district.— 
There is not a district in the state which will not be benefitted ten¬ 
fold by the information thus disseminated, or I am no judge of cause 
and effect. FELLENBURGH. 
Saratoga, Sept. 20, 1834. 
INDIAN CORN SOWN FOR FODDER. 
The extreme drought, which has the present season oppressed 
the vegetable world, and rendered abortive many of the early hopes 
of the husbandman, -would seem a fit occasion to introduce to the 
notice of farmers, a simple and effective remedy for a deficiency of 
the grass and hay crop at least. It is the sowing of Indian corn 
