1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
215 
Channel Island Cattle. 
In making a collection of pictures to illus¬ 
trate for our readers the cattle of the Channel 
Islands, we found so great a variety among 
them, yet such characteristic specimens, that we 
cannot drop the subject without exhibiting two 
more engravings of 
them. One is a ma¬ 
ture cow, taken in a 
strikingly beautiful 
attitude. We fear 
our artist will long 
try in vain to pro¬ 
cure a similarly spir¬ 
ited “pose” in the 
animals which lie 
photographs for us. 
There is the obvious 
difficulty in taking 
cattle and sheep, that 
it is almost impos¬ 
sible to make them 
take a position to 
show their good 
points and not look 
stupid and devoid of 
animation. This en¬ 
graving comes very 
near to perfectly sat¬ 
isfying us, and cer¬ 
tainly is the best 
wood cut of a cow 
we ever saw. The cut of the Guernsey cow pub¬ 
lished last month is its equal in every thing but 
vivacity, and this was gained in the present case 
by letting the cow’s calf gambol on the grass plot 
at the rear of the photographer. Her owner, Mr. 
Edward Howe, of Princeton, 1ST. J., writes: “ I 
agree with you that the engraving is a great 
success and a very true likeness of the cow. 
Diana is seven years old, a very dark fawn col¬ 
or, with a beautifully developed udder of a rare 
yellow color. She is of imported stock; her 
dam, ‘ Miss Fannie,’ 
and sire, ‘ the Bryee 
bull,’ were both im¬ 
ported by Mr. Wm. 
Redmond.” The 
heifer “Hoey” was 
two years old last 
June (the photo¬ 
graph was taken in 
August). Her owner, 
Mr. James P. Swain, 
says: “She was sired 
by Col. R. Hoe’s im¬ 
ported bull Saturn, 
dam Lap Horn, im¬ 
ported by the late 
Tlios. Richardson. 
Both parents were 
from the Island of 
Jersey. The bull 
was chosen for his 
beauty, and the cow 
selected (out of near¬ 
ly one hundred im¬ 
ported by Mr. Rich¬ 
ardson) for her milk¬ 
ing qualities, and was about the roughest speci¬ 
men of a cow I ever saw of any breed.” 
at any rate, putting a mortgage upon the soil, 
which will probably never be taken up. The 
mortgage may be removed by the purchase of 
more manure, or its equivalent; but every year 
manure grows more and more valuable, and the 
temptation never to restore it, greater. To the 
farmer the manure pile is his working capital. 
JERSEY COW “DIANA,” SEVEN YEAItS OLD. 
The Management of Worn-out Pastures. 
It is a very good pasture that will carry a cow 
or a bullock to the acre, through the season, 
and this might oftener be done than it is, on 
lands naturally good for grass. Instead of this, 
we have, in most parts of the grazing districts, 
pastures not half so productive, and in many 
parts five acres will not support a cow through 
the summer. The cows are frequently turned 
in on or before the first of May, before the grass 
Selling Manure. —-The farmer who sells 
manure off his place, sells his children’s birth¬ 
right. It may be necessary, to support their 
lives; if so, well. It maybe necessary, in order 
to obtain money for some pressing need ; if so, 
it would be better, probably, to sell laud. It is, 
is well started, and it is kept close-cropped all 
through the season. In time of drouth there is 
no relief for the pastures. Many of the grass 
plants are pulled up by the roots, as one can see 
by examining the sod. The cows are kept in 
yards at night, and most of their manure is lost 
to the pasture. Few of the grasses have any 
chance to go to seed; and when winter comes, 
there is no covering for the roots. Here are 
four causes of deterioration—pulling up by the 
roots, and preventing seeding, mulching, and 
manuring. No soil can possibly stand this 
treatment for a long course of years without in¬ 
jury, and very good lands may become so ex¬ 
hausted that it will take years of rest to recov¬ 
er them without the aid of man. Pastures may 
be brought up very 
rapidly with suffi¬ 
cient expense, but 
the question for the 
farmer is,how to ren¬ 
ovate old pastures 
economically, and 
maintain them in a 
condition of produc¬ 
tiveness. Old past¬ 
ures that have car¬ 
ried a good stock of 
cattle for many 
years, and at once 
begin to fail, usually 
need phosphates in 
the soil, and these 
are best supplied by 
using bone-dust or 
some of the phos- 
phatic guanos. Cows 
fed on these pastures 
will frequently inti¬ 
mate this lack in the 
soil by gnawing on 
bones, and some¬ 
times they become actually diseased because 
phosphoric acid —that indispensable ingredient 
both to plants and animals—lias been removed 
from the land. Sowing some kinds of grass 
seed is often very important, and so great is the 
benefit of clover, that it will usually pay to buy 
both red and white clover seed. If the hay 
from an old natural meadow free from weeds, 
and yielding a notable variety of grasses, be 
placed by itself so that the seed may be collected 
after the mow is empty, no mixture of grass 
seed can be better; 
otherwise, it would 
probably be well to 
obtain in addition to 
both the kinds of 
clover, the seed of 
red-top and Ken¬ 
tucky blue grass,call¬ 
ed June grass at the 
East. White clover 
Will often come in 
abundantly after 
sowing plaster, and 
100 pounds of plas¬ 
ter to the acre will 
great ly promote the 
growth of both the 
red and white on al¬ 
most any soil. It is 
not necessary to 
plow the land, al¬ 
though often a thor¬ 
ough harrowing is 
useful. The sowing 
of grass seed with 
whatever manure 
may be applied, and bushing it in, is suffi¬ 
cient. Wood ashes is often one of the cheap¬ 
est and best dressings. On sandy and gravelly 
soils, muck or peat that lias been weathered a 
year, twenty cords to the acre, would give 
good grass. Compost, yard and stable manure, 
are always good for such lands, and will always 
pay, if made upon the farm, and certainly some 
kind of top-dressing should be used to give the- 
