The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1854-09-13
overst0cking the Farm.

= since 0utter anu ChoeSS nave become
staple productions Of our country, offering
the most speedy and profitable return for
+, agricultural labor and investment, many
farmers have adopted what conceive to
be the mistaken practice Of stocking their
farms TO their utmost capacity with cows,
and dsvoting nearly the whole Of their land
to the growth Of grass.
The plow has come to be con sidered al
most a useless and obsolete implement.
and its appropriate province, unsurpsd by
the scythe and the milk pail.
Farmers owning one hundred and fifty
or two hundred acres of improved land.
{ ffequensly do not cultivate more than ten
or eleven yearly; and indeed. in some in
: stances, prefer purchasing their daily
bread, in order to be able to add two or
!. three to the number Of their COWS. This
mode Of management-a gross error in
the beginning-is now developing results
90 marked and ruinous. that he must be
! stupid indeed who can pass them by un-
Needed. The necessary consequences is,
that . large portion OF the farm must lie
perhaps fifteen or twenty years without
! blowing, either as pasture or meadow
Various expedients have been resorted to,
such % top.dressing with manure. harrow
!. ing and rolling in the spring. the liberal
nee Of plaster, 60. to enable the farmer
70 persevere in this unreasonable method
of farming; but these, though valuable
auxilliaries to the plow. do not by any
j mems supersede its necessity. Expe-
-rienoe and observation have established
the fact that no soil, however great its
!. Adaptness to grass, unless il be low land,
: subject 10 annual irrigation, will continue
I for = long series of years, to yield an
abundant and undiminished crop. without
breaking up and re-sesding. Grass, as
we'll as other plants, need occasional re-
plsnishing from the seed. The roots in
time become old enfeebled, and either die
Of themselves, or are thrown out by the
spring and winter frosts. have frequent
y in spring, seen the ground literally
strewn with the bulbous roots Of timothy.
In addinon to the effects already no.
ticed, of crowding upon the farm an un-
due amount of stock, The farmer, in order
10 make the most Of a short supply Of fod-
i der, is obliged to keep his cattle out upon
) the fields to the extreme edge of winter;
s the grass upon them is knawed to the very
I roots, and then left exposed to the killing
!. influence of an "open winter" hindering
its growth in the spring, and materially les.
SEEMING the succeeding crop.
The Impoverished eturn OUT appear.
ance, of very much of the old pasture and
meadow lands, calls loudly for change
OF management. Farms which have been
highly stocked for years, and which. un
der more rational system Of cultivation
would have been increasing in fruittulness
and fertility, are actually falling off in tnei
productions from year TO year. Farmers
arc thus driven by grinding necessity. te
diminish their stock. But Sigh, variations
; will avail bu. little. What is needed is {
thorough, radical reform. And If farmer.
--parficnlariy those who have for a long
time given their attention exclusively tc
dairying-would turn off portion OF ,hei
stock, and systematically devote more lant
to the plow, doubt not they would b,
gainers.-EDening Post.