THE CULTIVATOR. 
47 
and dark manures.; and also, when fiat and moist, by throwing th°m 
into ridges, and thereby rendering them more dry. 
3. They suggest the propriety of adapting the crop to the soil, 
in reference to texture, color and aspect.—of plac'ng those which 
are natives of warmer latitudes, or which arc liable to be injured 
by early autumnal frosts, as Indian corn, pumpkins, barley, red clo¬ 
ver, &.C., in the most favored situations; and of assigning to less 
favored soils, those which come from higher latitudes, or which are 
indigenous with us, as wheat, rye, timothy, peas, and particularly 
turnips, oats and potatoes. The temperature of soils is often so 
■different on the north and south slopes of a hill—on whi'e and dark 
soils—on those that are porous and adhesive—and on those which 
are wet and dry, as to make a material difference in the products of 
crops of the first class. 
4. They suggest the value of pulverization, particularly of the 
surface, among hoed and drilled crops—the heat penetrating much 
more readily a surface that is frequently stirred, than one which has 
become compact and baked. 
5. The most important means of benefiting the corn crop, by 
increasing the temperature of the soil, is the use of unfermented 
manure. This benefits in a two fold way; the fermentation itself 
generates heat, and, by rendering the soil loose and porous, it ren¬ 
ders it more permeable to the warmth imparted by the sun and the 
atmosphere. 
6. They show that seeds may be buried too deep. Few seeds 
vegetate at a temperature below 45 degrees. They should there¬ 
fore be deposited as near the surface as a. proper regard to moisture 
will permit, to bring them as much as possible within the influence 
of the heat of the atmosphere. 
Seed Corn, that is steeped preparatory to planting, should not 
be suffered to dry on the surface of the ground, or by exposure too 
long to the sun, but should be buried in the earth while moist. In 
our last spring’s planting, after finishing one field, which came up 
well, the seed was left exposed a day, in a basket, to the sun, and 
planted the day following. Much of this seed failed to vegetate, and 
some of that which grew, had a sickly, dwarfish appearance through 
the season. The like happened to Mr. Weston, of Washington, 
and Mr. Brewster, of Oneida. Another gentleman has informed us, 
that he planted steeped seed; that the three first rows were covered 
immediately, but that the residue was not covered until the whole 
field had been dropped, and the seed become dry. The three rows 
came up and grew well; the residue came up but imperfectly, and 
the plants they produced were inferior and dwarfish. The cause of 
these failures maybe thus explained: Germination had commenced 
in the steep—a chemical change had taken place in the cotyledons, 
in the mat'er which feeds and sustains the young plant till it deve- 
lopes its leaves, and can take care of itself,—and by the subsequent 
drying, this nutriment was partially or wholly destroyed, and the 
corn failed to grow, or grew but feebly, for want of it. Where 
germination is stopped, after it has commenced, for want of mois¬ 
ture, the vitality of the seed cannot be again resusciated. We have 
had seed corn, after it had been steeped, keep good in a basket five 
days, in a cellar, where it sprouted, and was afterwards planted, 
and grew well.___ 
White Mulberry Trees. —Mr. Asa Carter, of Champion, Jeffer¬ 
son, writes us, in consequence of the suggestion made in our March 
number, that he has for sale from 50,000 to 100,000 white mulber¬ 
ry trees, of two years growth, which he will sell at $30 pe r thou¬ 
sand—cheap enough. Mr. Carter enclosed us a specimen of silk 
manufactured by his daughter, who never saw a silk worm nor a 
silk reel, till last summer. This is a pretty good evidence that 
there is no great art or mystery in managing silk worms. 
The Roman Cato has left for farmers the two following maxims: 
1 . Never to work within doors when there is any thing to be 
done without. 
2. Never to do in fair weather what maybe done in wet. 
Correction. —In the astronomical article in our January number, 
in the 6th line below the cut of the solar system, the word “ thou¬ 
sand” was inadvertantly omitted, and not noticed in reading the 
proof. The sun is thirteen hundred thousand times larger than the 
earth. Again, 4th line of next column, read, the diameter of the 
earth is 8,000 miles—and not its orbit. 
AN ESSAY ON GRASSES. — ( Continued from page 33.) 
OF THE CULTIVATED GRASSES. 
The forage, hay and ■pasture grasses, of which we are now 
about to treat, are found clothing the surface in every zone, attain¬ 
ing generally a greater height, with less closeness at the roots, in 
warm climates; and producing a low, close, thick, dark green nu¬ 
tritive herbage, in the -cooler latitudes. The best grass pastures 
are found in countries that have least cold in winter, and no excess 
of heat in summer, as in Ireland, Britain, Holland and Denmark. 
In every zone, where there are high mountains, there are certain 
positions between tlie base and summit, where£ from the equilibri¬ 
um of the temperature, turf may be found eqilal to that in marine 
islands. 
The universal presence of the forage grasses, and the rapidity 
with which all soils become covered with them, when left unculti¬ 
vated, is the obvious reason why their selection and systematic cul¬ 
ture is but of recent date. This branch of culture originated in 
England, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and at first 
embraced only rye-grass, was afterwards extended to cocks-foot, 
timothy, foxtail, £zc. The Duke of Bedford made the latest and 
most laborious efforts towards attaining a knowledge of the com¬ 
parative value of all the Baitioh and some foreign grasses worth 
cultivating. The result is given in the appendix to Sir H. Davy’s 
Agricultural Chemistry, and of which an abstract will be given at 
the close of this article. 
With respect to the general culture of grasses, though no depart¬ 
ment of agriculture is more simple in the execution, yet, from the 
nature of grasses, considerable judgment is required in the design. 
Though grasses abound in every soil and situation, yet, all the spe¬ 
cies do not abound in every soil and situation indifferently. On the 
contrary, no class of perfect plants are so absolute and unalterable 
in their choice in this respect. The creeping-rooted and stolonife- 
rous grasses will grow readily on moist soils; but the fibrous-root¬ 
ed species, and especially the more delicate upland grasses, require 
particular attention as to the soil in which they are sown; for in 
many soils they will either not come up at all, or die away in a 
few years, and give way to the grasses which would naturally 
spring up in such a soil, when left to a state of nature. Hence in 
sowing down lands for permanent pasture, it is a good method to 
make choice of those grasses which thrive best in adjoining and 
similarly circumstanced pastures for a part of the seed, and to mix 
with these what are considered the very best kinds. 
The grasses here to be treated of, may be classed as tall sorts, 
or those best fitted for hay; and dwarf grasses, or those fit only 
for pasturage. 
Sec I. Of the tall growing, or hay grasses. 
The hay grasses for the purposes of agriculture, may be advan¬ 
tageously divided into those of temporary, and those of permanent 
duration. 
Subject 1. Of tall or hay grasses of temporary duration. 
The most valuable of this division are the biennial, or, as it is 
commonly but erroneously called, the annual and subperennial rye¬ 
grass, the cocks-foot grass and woolly soft grass. Where a crop of 
hay is desired within the year, resort must be had to those plants 
which are strictly annual; and none are more suitably adapted to 
this purpose than the common oat, cut and made into hay when it 
comes into flower. Indian corn and millet are also adapted for 
this use, sown broadcast, and cut and gathered for hay. 
The biennial rye-grass, (Lolium perenne, var. bienne, L.) is al¬ 
most universally sown in Great Britain, either with or without clo¬ 
ver, among corn crops, with a view to one crop of hay the succeed¬ 
ing season. It is preferred to the perennial variety. It prefers a 
rich loamy soil, but will grow on any. 
The perennial rye grass, (Lolium perenne L.) differs from the 
other in being somewhat of smaller growth, and in abiding for se¬ 
veral years, according to the variety, and the soil and the culture. 
There are many new varieties of this grass, which have been dis¬ 
covered of late years, and one which was not introduced into Bri¬ 
tain until 1832, some seed of which was sent to the United States 
in 1833. All the varieties of rye-grass have been tried with us, 
but have not been found to succeed well, and in no case that we 
have heard has the attempt to cultivate them been persevered in. 
The new variety above alluded to, is termed the Italian rye-grass. 
It has proved highly beneficial in France and Germany. We have 
