Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1855-04-14
farmer's Department.
A New Kind Of Grass.


variety has been received by W. G. BoGAgr,
Secretary of the Bradford County Agricultural
Society, among which is a quantity Of Saintoin
a kind of grass which must be entirely new
to most of our readers. We find in the Far
mcr's Dictionary, published by HARPERs, some
account of this grass, which may induce some
of our farmers to give it q trial The seed
can be procured by calling upon Mr. BoGARr.
SMxroIX. Hedgmrum Ouobrichis Fig. Is
rayccic. A lOng-rOoted, perennial, leguminous
plant with red flowers. 1t is native in caca-
reous soils
There are few plants which have more
rapidly improved the value of poor, thin, calca-
reous soils than sainfoin and in the richer
kinds of loan, which contain a considerable
proportion of calcareous matter, its value sur
passes even that of broad clover, giving fully
as great O return, with much smaller eXpendi-
turc of manure The plant has a strong,
woody and tibrous root, which insinuatcs itself
into the assures Of calcarous rocks, and finds
moisture in the dryest seasons, whilcits spread
ing fbrcs keep the earth from being washed
down the steep slopes of the hills In favour
able situations, it may be made into hay twice
in the year, or cut oftener as green food. In
the most arid and exposed situation it gives at
least one good crop of hay The plants grows
about two feet high, and the stem branches ont
into many compound leaves After it has
been mown, it shoots out rapidly again, and
may be advantageously depasturcd by every
kind of cattle or sheep. There are varieties
of the plant which differ in the rapidity of
their growth the best is called, III France
esparceite or sainfoin a deuc coupes. From
France it has been introduced into England
The duration of sainfoin depends on the nature
of the soil, and the state it was in with respect
to weeds when it was sQwn. a cold, wet sub
soil soon destroys the roots, whereas free and
dry one, whether rocky or gravelly, gives them
vigour Grass and weeds, which choke the
crown OF the plant, soon causes it to decay, as
is the case with lucern With every advant-
age, it may last in vigour ten years. especially
if it is occasionally invigorated with a top
dressing of manure or ashes, or, which is best
of all, with diluted urine, or the DRAWINGS from
dunghills During that time 1t may be cut
twice for hay every year, taking care to cut it
before the flower is faded or the seed formed !;
and if sheep are folded on it after the second
cutting, the next crop will well repay the
trouble 1t is usually sown in spring in a crop
by barley or oats, which should be sown thin
in order that the sainfon may not be smother
ed. The land should have been prepared by a
cleansing crop. From three to four bushels of
seed may be sown, narrowed in, and rolled
1t is not often drilled, although this method,
by allowing the use of the hoe between the
rows, would much strengthen the young plants,
and protect them against coarse grasses, which
are their greatest enemies. In the first year
the sainfoin should not be fed off by sheep :;
and if it is mown, it should not be mown too
close to the ground. The crown of the root
in the young plant rises q little above the
ground and if this be bit off, or cut with the
scythe, the plant dies 1t is useful to harrow
the ground lightly, to draw the earth round
the roots, and to destroy seed weeds soon after
the barley or oats are reaped. The sainfoin
does not produce large crop the first year, for
some OF the seeds will lie a twelvemonth in the
ground before they spring up. 1t is in perfec-
tlOn after the second year, when portion may
be reserved for seed. Sainfoin hay is extremely
nourishing for every kind of cattle, especially
if it has been made without rain Although
it is not apt to heat in the stack, it must be
put up in very dry state and if it has
suffered from rain, too much care cannot be
taken thoroughly to dry it for the water in
sinuates itself by capillary attraction into the
hollow stems, and is long in evaporating, so
that when it feels quite dry it may yet contain
much water. The mode of discovering this
is to twist it strongly in the hands into rope,
when the moisture, if there is any, will ooze
out. 1t is better to let it dry thoroughly.
than, by carrying it in hurry, to run the risk
of its becoming mouldy within In very pre-
cariouS situations it may be carried in green
state, provided there be no moisture in it from
dcwS or showers and stacked i'm alternate
layers with good straw. 1t will impart some
of its fragrance to the straw, and loose none of
its nutritive qualities The same may be done
with lucern or clover The most advantageous
use of sainfoin, however, is to cut it green and
give it Immediately to the cattle There is no
danger of their being hoven by it, for it ferments
very slowly, owing to the fbr0us nature of tile
stem. If the situation of the field admits of
occasional irrigation, without danger of the
water stagnating, the produce of the sainfoin
will be greatly increased and it may then be
cut four or even five times in a season without
fear of exhausting its strength. When it
begins to appear thin On the ground, and other
plants seem to get the better of the sainfoin,
it is time to break it up The land will be
found much improved in fertility by the sanfoin.
A poor chalk or gravel which before would
scarcely repay the seed sown in it, will now,
by the gradual decay of the roots and fbres of
the sainfoin, produce several good crops with
out any other manure. The prudent farmer,
however, will not entirely destroy, by repeated
crops of grain, that cohesion of the soil which
is produced by the roots of the sainfoin but
by judicious course and proper application of
the manurp yyhiCl, tha Sainfoin hIoJ hin, -,
make, he will keep up the newly-acquired
fertility until, in the course of ten or twelve
years he-can again SOW sainfon seed in it with
the prospect of crop more abundant than the
first. Many poor, barren tract of calcareous
rock and gravel has been fertilized and raised
in value by the sole effect of the sainfoin, with