56 
applied to the grass which grows among the 
stubble of cut corn. 
We have hitherto viewed the aftergrass as 
eaten off, or constituting pasture; but we must 
now glance at it as cut down, and constituting 
hay or rowen. In the former light, it is properly 
aftergrass ; and in the latter, it becomes techni- 
cally aftermath or lattermath. When meadew 
lands are rich, or when meadow hay is valuable, 
the treatment of the aftergrass as a crop for 
mowing, will usually be found profitable. Yet no 
general rule can be given to show, in every case, 
whether the depasturing or the mowing be the 
preferable course. When abundance of manure 
can be procured, or stimulating irrigation can be 
practised, or lamb-sucking is prevalent, or the 
market-price of hay is high, most farmers will 
probably judge it wise to cut a second crop of 
| hay, and to assign only the aftergrass of that 
second crop to the depasturing of stock. Yet in 
the neighbourhood of London, where manure is 
very abundant, this practice is regarded as un- 
economical and ultimately mischievous. When, 
on the other hand, a meadow is unusually low, 
wet, and retentive of water, it ought to be en- 
tered as seldom as possible by stock, and will 
yield better aggregate returns from second mow- 
ings than if it were trodden and ruptured by a 
full course of eating off. In most or all other 
circumstances, a meadow, if made to yield two 
crops of hay in the year, is certain to suffer more 
or less exhaustion, and, by wanting a requisite 
degree of pounding and abrasure from the feet of 
sheep or cattle, would probably become more or 
less infested with the vegetation of moss plants. 
As regards a field of sown grasses, however, the 
desire and effort of almost every farmer are, by 
all means, to obtain if possible a good second crop 
of hay. 
The cutting of the second crop of grass re- 
quires more skill and attention on the part of 
the mower, than the cutting of the first. The 
grass of the second crop is, in general, much 
lighter and shorter than the grass of the first ; 
and the scythe, except when in the hand of an 
expert workman, is apt to slice it, slip through 
it, or even rise over it. “Crops of this sort,” re- 
marks Mr. Loudon, “should always be cut as 
much as possible when the dew is upon them, 
and as soon as ever there is a tolerable growth ; 
as, by waiting, the season is constantly getting 
more unfavourable for making them into hay ; 
and when not well made, this hay is of little or 
no value.” Another important matter is to have 
the surface of the meadow in a firm condition, 
and with levels or slopes or inclined planes as 
smooth if possible as a bowling-green ; for if the 
surface be otherwise—especially if it abound in 
roughnesses and tiny undulations, the scythe 
will cut down only the body of the longest grasses 
and the tops of some of the shorter ones, and will 
leave an amount of understubble of tall plants 
and thick matting of dwarf.plants, probably 
AFTERGRASS. 
quite as great as the portion of herbage it re- 
moves. Ifa complete depasturing with sheep is 
to follow the mowing, the smoothness of the sur- 
face is of less consequence; but if only a partial 
depasturing or no depasturing whatever is to fol- 
low, the annual loss occasioned by the roughness 
of a meadow’s surface may be very serious. 
The hay of the aftermath—technically called 
rowen—is inferior in value to that of the spring 
crop. The main reason of this is its great com- 
parative deficiency in nutritious properties, as 
shown by the analysis of Mr. Sinclair which we | 
noticed at the outset ; and another reason is that 
it wants the seed-stalks of the plants, and in con- 
sequence is defective in some chief ingredients 
of the chemical composition of good fodder. This 
hay is not suitable for horses, especially for such 
as work hard, or are driven fast, or evince any 
tendency toward feebleness in the lungs; yet it | 
is quite good for sheep and black cattle, and par- 
ticularly for ewes and milk cows. 
well saved, is even a very profitable fodder for 
cows giving milk; for, in consequence of its 
being of a soft and succulent nature, and not so 
heating as other sorts of hay, it is well fitted to 
produce a large flow of milk. 
closely akin to this, is one reason why dairy far- 
mers cut the grass of their meadow lands so 
many times during summer ; though two other | 
reasons are the procuring of the fodder in a very | 
tender and succulent condition, and another is 
the stimulating of the grass plants to extend and 
multiply their herbage. Rowen is suitable and 
beneficial for feeding such ewes as are suckling 
house-lambs during winter, because in their case, 
as in the cow’s, it produces a comparatively | 
large flow of milk ; and it is well adapted, also, | 
for the feeding of such sheep as require the aid 
of hay during winter, and for the support of 
calves and of all sorts of young cattle which are 
kept as store stock. 
The failure of the second crop of clover in any | 
of the prevalent rotations in approved mixed | 
husbandry, is now unhappily an event of frequent | 
occurrence, and produces all the effects, in farm | 
economy, of the failure of aftermath, and in fact 
is often spoken of under that designation. A 
frequent device hitherto for compensating for | 
the failure, or obtaining a substitute for the pro- 
vender a-wanting, is to grow tares. But this crop 
has the serious double disadvantage of greatly 
exhausting the soil, and of not affording in its 
green state sufficient nourishment for hard-work- 
ing animals. A much more suitable substitute 
is a combination of such grasses as will mature 
their culms or flower-stems in the same season 
in which they are sown, and arrive successionally 
at height and ripeness so as to afford a succes- 
sion of forage, and, at the same time, admit o1 
being treated as the basis of a grass-course or 
several years in continuance, or of what is tech- 
nically designated permanent pasture. A com- 
bination of exactly this character is recommended 
Sa a eer 
A consideration | 
Rowen, when || 
