THE CULTIVATOR. 
11 
cles are, at least, of doubtful value as food. Now, sir, I can assure 
Mr. Allen, from experience, that the straws of peas and beans 
(Phaseoli) are the most valuable food for stock of any straws that 
he can grow upon his farm. Many of the finest farm-teams in 
Great Br.tain, are maintained on them through the first months of 
winter, without any hay, and the haulm of peas, well harvested, is 
considered by intelligent farmers there, as ful y equal to hay in feed¬ 
ing sheep: all horned cattle will thrive upon it. Of course both these 
straws should be cut sufficiently small. As to the straw of buck¬ 
wheat, I have no experience, but I know that this plant, cut when in 
bloom, makes good hay. I beg respectfully also to submit for the 
consideration of Mr. Allen, and your readers, whether the plan of his 
barn, as described by him in the same number, is not liable to the 
following objections. 1st. That its being entirely surrounded by 
stables and cattle houses, might prove injurious to the grain, fee., 
deposited in its bays, upon which the warmth and breath of the 
circumjacent animals must produce some effect. 2nd. That the 
dung and urine of the stock, cannot be conveniently collected 
into one mass, and the latter into one and the same reservoir. To 
cellars under barns, for the reception of manure , I have an insu¬ 
perable objection: independent of the injurious effects that must 
result from the exhalations of the large mass of manure in a state 
of fermentation, the most serious accidents may occur by the trap¬ 
doors, necessary to precipitate the manure from the stables into 
them, being carelessly left open, or not securely closed. I had a 
most valuable mare dreadfully mangled by her hind leg slipping 
into such an aperture. A quadrangle, with the principal barn on 
the north, and the entrance on the south side, or at the south-west 
corner, is certainly the best form for a farm-yard. 
I have seen several remedies for the ravages of those pests, the 
cut-worm and turnip-fly, and, among others, lime has been recom¬ 
mended as specific. To prevent your readers wasting their time in 
useless experiments, I will relate the result of two which I made 
last summer. I placed three cut-worms in a saucer, filled with 
earth and fresh slaked lime in equal parts. On visiting them a 
few hours afterwards, I found two had escaped; these I discovered 
at a short distance in high health. I restored them to their less 
impatient companion and placed a board over the saucer to prevent 
further escape. On the following day all were alive and merry, 
though their backs were as white with lime as a miller’s with flour 
dust. Having a small bed of turnips attacked by the fly, I scat¬ 
tered quick lime and ashes over them early in the morning, while 
the dew was on; at twelve o’clock I found the insects as busy as 
ever at their work of destruction, and counted no less than five on 
the seed leaves of a single plant thickly powdered with the “ re¬ 
medy.” I apprehend that lime, in fine powder, thinly spread, be¬ 
comes almost instantly carbonated and effete by exposure t > the at¬ 
mosphere. Can any of your correspondents mention an instance 
where lime has certainly been the sole cause of destruction to the 
aforesaid nuisances ? Natural causes frequently produce effects 
which experimentalists are too apt to attribute artificial applications. 
I last spring sowed mangel wurzel at various distances, to ascer¬ 
tain which was the most advantageous. A workman who was cart¬ 
ing manure, having carelessly left the gate open, great part of my 
crop was eaten by cows, but of the remainder 1 found the plants 
which stood only one foot apart as large as those at greater distan¬ 
ces; both were an excellent crop. I would recommend that the 
rows should be just far enough apart to admit the cultivator, and 
that the plants should not be left more than ten inches or a foot 
asunder. Even if a less weight should be produced by close plant¬ 
ing, the quantity of nourishment would probably be as great or 
greater; for M. Chaptal asserts, that beets of one or two pounds 
weight, yield, in proportion, double the amount of sugar to that 
which is produced by roots of ten or twenty pounds, and sugar is 
nourishment. The smaller roots are much more conveniently pre¬ 
pared for the manger, Sic. I have fifteen acres of land, cleared two 
years ago, which produced last year an immense crop of wheat 
straw, but scarcely fifteen bushels of grain per acre. The soil is 
a deep, warm, sandy loam, among which lime stones are thinly scat¬ 
tered. This field I shall plant next May with early twelve rowed 
Indian corn, at various distances, and carefully note the produce per 
acre, of each division. The result shall be communicated to the 
Cultivator. I am, sir, very respectfully, yours. 
Boston, February 17, 18S6. COLONUS. 
05^ Several communications are unavoidably omitted till our next. 
AN ESSAY ON GRASSES. 
At the request of a gentleman proposing to publish an agricultural work, we 
drew up for his use, some time ago, a compendium of Loudon’s chapters 
on grasses, omitting such parts as were deemed of little use here, and add¬ 
ing such facts as were most likely to render it serviceable to American hus¬ 
bandry. The projected work was not published; and the manuscript hav¬ 
ing been returned to us, we now proceed to publish it in the Cultivator, as 
well in reply to many inquiries which have been addressed to us on this 
subject, as in the hope of rendering an acceptable service to all our patrons. 
OF THE CULTURE OF HERBAGE PLANTS. 
Under this head Mr. Loudon has embraced the clovers, lucerne, 
saintfoin ( Hedysarvm onobrychis) burnet (Poterium sanguisorba) 
ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolate) the whin (Ulex europeus) 
the spurrv (Spergula arvensis) the broom (Spartium scoparum) 
the parsley (Apium petroselinum) the birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus cor- 
niculatus) the wall flower, yarrow, fee. As the saintfoin is pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to chalk soils, of which we have none, and as every 
attempt to cultivate it in this country has proved unsuccessful;— 
and as the other plants enumerated are either considered as noxious, 
or unfitted for field culture here, the notice of this chapter will be 
limited to the clovers and lucern. 
The cultivation of clovers and herbage plants, used exclusively 
as food for live stock, is comparatively a modern improvement. 
They were not introduced into Britain till the sixteenth century. 
Their introduction among us, on any thing like a general scale, 
was far more recent, and indeed may be said to be among the im¬ 
provements of the present century. But at present clovers are 
deemed indispensable in all good farming ; and particularly on light 
soils and in alternate husbandry. 
In Flanders, where husbandry underwent its earliest improve¬ 
ments, and where it is found now most to excel, clovers are deem¬ 
ed indispensable to good husbandry. Upon their cultivation, says 
Radcliff, hinges apparently the whole of the farmer’s prosperity. 
“ Without clover, no man in Flanders would pretend to call him¬ 
self a farmer.” It is there used, as it should be here, as food for 
both plants and animals. 
Sec. 1 . The clover family—Trifolium L. Diadel. Duan L. and 
Leguminosece J. 
The species of clover in cultivation are the red clover (Trifolium 
pratense) a biennial, and sometimes, especially on chalky soils, a 
triennial plant, known from the other species by its broad leaves, 
luxuriant growth, and reddish purple flowers. 
The white, or creeping, or Dutch clover (T. repens) is a peren¬ 
nial plant, known by its creeping stems and white flowers. 
The yellow clover, hop-trefoil, or shamrock clover (T. procum- 
bens) a biennial, known by its procumbent shoots, yellow flowers 
and black seeds. 
The cow grass, meadow clover or marl grass (T. medium) a pe¬ 
rennial, resembling the red clover, but of a paler hue, dwarfer habit, 
with pale red or whitish flowers, and long roots, very sweet to the 
taste. 
Trifolivm incarnatum, an annual, a native of Italy, but little 
known either in the U. States or G. Britain, and the character of 
which for usefulness cannot yet be fully decided on. Will not en¬ 
dure our winters, but would probably do in Pennsylvania and south. 
In the choice of sorts, the red or broad leaved is most generally 
cultivated. It yields the heaviest burthen. Yet some prefer the 
cow grass, distinguished in the northern states as southern clover. 
It comes in flower, and is fit to cut, ten or fourteen days earlier 
than the broad variety. It will y ield a crop of hay, and afterwards 
a crop of seed. 
The ivhite and yellow clovers are seldom sown to any extent.— 
They come in spontaneously on many soils, and are a valuable ac¬ 
cession for pasture uses. 
The soil best adapted for clover is a deep sandy loam, which will 
freely admit the long tap-roots ; but it will grow in any. soil, pro¬ 
vided it be dry. Calcareous soils are peculiarly congenial to clo¬ 
ver; and the application of lime or gipsum, upon most soils, will 
call into action clover seeds, which would appear to have before 
lain dormant. Plaster of Paris has a magic influence in accellerating 
its growth, where this mineral is not neutralized by the influence 
