The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1854-08-22
AGRICULTURAL,

OvERsToCKING THE FARM.-Since butter and
cheese ave become staple productions of our
country, offering the most speedy and profita-
bio return for agricultural labor ard invest
ment, many farmers havo adopted what con-
ceive to be the mistaken practice of stocking
their farms to the utmost capacity with cows
and devoting nearly tho whole of their land to
the growth of grass
The plow has come TO be considered almost
useles and absoleto implement, and its ap-
propriate province usurped by The scythe and
the milk pail.
E1rmers owning ono hundred and fifty or
two hundred ac,as of innrovad l.ns rrocvont
ly do not cultivate u fnur ,,,proVeu ,aha 'requen.
yearly and indeed some instances, " r.e.. % -
purchase their daily bread. in order 10 add two
or three to the number of their COWS. This
mode Of management--a gross error in tho be-
ginning-is now developing results so marked
and runous that he must be stupid indeed
who can pass them by unheedod. The noces-
sary Consequence is, that a large portion of the
farm must Iie perhaps l5 or 20 years without
plo Ching, either as pasture or meadow. Va
rious expeients hive been resorted to, such
as top-dressing with manure, narrowing and
rolling in the spring, tho libcral use of plaster,
&C., to enable tho farmer to persevere in this
unreasonable method of farming; but those
though valuable auxillaries to tho plow, do
not, by any means supercede its necessity
Experience and observation have established
the fact that on soil however great its adapt
cdness TO grass. unless it be low land, subject
to annual irrigation, will continue for a long
long series of years, to yield an abundant and
indiminishing crop without breaking up and
reseeding. Grass as well as other plants,
needs occasional replenishing from tho seed.
The roofs in timo become old and enfeebled.
and ethor dio of themselves or are thrown
out by the spring and winter frosts. have
frequently in the spring. seen tho ground lite
rally strewn with the bulbous roots of timothy.
In addition to the effects already noticed, of
crowding upon tho farm an undue amount Of
stock, the farmer, ia order to make tho most
of short supply of fodder, is Obliged to keep
his cattle out upon the fields to the extreme
edge of winter; the gross upon them is knaw
ed to tho very roots, and then left exposed to
the killing influence ofan ''opcn winter him
dering its growth in the spring and materially
lessening the succeeding crop.
The impoverished, "run- out" appearance of
very much of tho old pasture and meadow
lands call loudly for a change Of management.
Farms which have been highly stocked for
years, and which, under more rational sys-
tenn Of cultivation, would have been increasing
in fruitfulness and fertility, and actually falling
off in their production from year to year.
Farmers are thus driven, by grinding necessi-
ty to diminish their stock. But slight varia-
tons will avail but little. What is needed is
thorough radical reform. And if farmers
particularly those who have for long iime Civ
on tbeir att ntion exclusively to daryng, would
tdrn off portion of their stock and systemat
ically devote more land to the plough | doubt
not they would DO gainers.-[ Evening Post.