Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-11-22

readiness with which they may be set IN grass,
as well as for the tenacity with which they re-
tain it. Soils originating from calcareous rocks
and shales, have both the physical and cheml- :.
cal characters, which adapt them to crops OF
this class. Their compact and tenacious struc-
ture are required by the roots of the grasses !;
while their composition affords the elements OF
fertility demanded as food for this same class
of products.
Varisties.-C Glover, timothy, bluegrass, with
occasional crop of orchard grass, are the yarle-
ties most highly valued. For moving, the tim.
othy is the most productive, and yields hay OF
fine quality. Glover is extensively cut for the
same purpose-giving hay of high nutriye value.
Orchard grass Is also mown sometimes, but the
product is usually light; and, unless cut while
in bloom, the stalks become so stiff and hard,
that they are not much relisbed by cattle and
horses, and L. generally rejected when supply
Of softer hay can be obtained. This grass makes
excellent early and late pasture. IL has re-
markably strong root, which the seyerest Win
ter affects but little, and hence it stands ready
to send up its abundant growth OF blades, with
the first opening Of Spring. While other yarle.-
ties are recuperaing the yigor OF their root and
preparing for their Spring growth, the orchard
grass is producing its first crop of early pasture.
Its blades are not only large and numerous, but
they are hardy, enduring late and early frosts
remarkably well, and not unfrequently retaining
greenness enough to afford good pasturage IN
mid-Winter.
The blue. grass bears closer and more constant
grazing, than any other kind; but the difficulty
Of keeping lands that are frequently cultivated,
well set with this grass, has been the cause OF
timothy taking its place, to very great extent,
as pasture crop. 1t still holds conspicuous
place, however, on watered meadows. Here II
grows, year after year, for generations, yielding
a tolerable crop of the best quality OF hay, and
the finest kind of pasture, during the latter part
of Summer, and through the whole OF Autumn.
SEEDING. The methods adopted for seeding
lands with clover and grass, are various, arising
partly from differences of soil, but more frequent
| " from the fact that all methods are attended
with alternate successes and failures in different
seasons and under different hands, Spring SOW
ing, Winter sowing and Fall sowing, all some
| times fail, and all sometimes succeed. Sowing
on wheat and on oats; sowing with narrowing,
and sowing without narrowing, are each attenq.
ed. now with success and now with defeat. IL
becomes, then, question of no little moment,
when. how and with what crops clover, tlno-
thy, &C., shall be sown. observation-disclosures
ous and acknowledgements decide the ques-
tion. Perhaps many of these experiments have
been already made with sufficient care, to leao
to an approximate conclusion; let MS see.
By comparing memoranda taken in all Sec
tions of the county, find that some farmers
who use the wheat drill with q grass.seed at
tachment, SOW clover and grass at the time o.
sowing wheat; and to make sure OF gooo
stand. some even make second application o
seed by hand, in the Spring. A few still SOW
lin mid Winter, preferring time when the
ground Is covered with snow, while others pre-
fer sowing altogether in the Spring. There is
method extensively practised in some parts OF
Rockbridge, and which found was gaining fa'
vor in Augusta to considerable extent, that Il
probably the most successful yet tried, IN secu-
ring uniform stand of clover especially-thou
all methods fail sometimes. 1t Is applicable tc
either wheat or oat field. The clover or gras:
seed, or both together, are sown about the last
of March or first of April, at time when ths
land is dry enough for tillage; and, If the Sol
is tolerably stiff clay, large harrow is passee
over the surface, which gives the seed shallow
covering. But If the soil is very loose, or ha.
been recently narrowed, as is the case with oa'
! fields. the wheat CLEANER may be substituted iol
/ the harrow, and will be found to have covered
the seed sufficiently.
While this method secures the prompt germl
nation of the crop, it also secures it in consid
erable degree, against the early drougnts, 0!
giving deeper root than is secured by sowlnt
on the surface without covering. More than on'
farmer has expressed his fear of injuring tn
wheat crop, by narrowing in grass seed IN TN
Spring. but, whilst this fear is entertained Q!
those who have not tried It., the testimony oe
those who have made the experiment, 40 49, ~ .
able to the plan, not only as q reliable means
securing good stand of clover, but also as ben
ehcial, rather than injurious to the wheat crop.
| Ratered naeado0s constitute most beautiful
feature in the agriculture of this rich old county
They occupy not simply the level bottom lands,
but frequently cover considerable upland slopes
on both sides of the water. courses. The streams
generally have such rapid fall, that the water,
turned aside into bitches which are nearly level,
is often found upon hill slope, far above the
bed of the stream, before it has run many rods
from its outlet. From these bitches the water
is spread over many acres of land, along almost
every river and creek in the county. The soils
of such meadows are rapidly enriched by organic
and mineral deposites from the water, when
properly managed.
The product of hay from watered meadows,
is not equal to that from unwstered upland
fields; but it has the advantage of being con-
stant, and hence reliable, even in dry seasons
Another valuable feature in these meadows, Is
the certainty of their yielding fine full pasture.
If the water is spread over them soon after the
hay has been removed, the surface is covered in
few weeks with luxuriant growth OF sweet
and nutritious grass. And, many time, when
every field upon the farm has become withered
and parched with drought, the meadow still re-
tains its deep, rich green, and may be relied
upon as 9 constant source of fine pasture, until
it is cut down by the severe frosts OF Winter.
SECTION vi.
Rotation Of Orops.-The necessity for some
regular system, by which the various crops of
the farm shall follow one another in due success.
sion, is generally admitted. The only serious
obstacle in the way of adopting such 9 system
generally in Augusta county, is the dllnculty Oh
dividing the farms, in many cases, into uniform
divisions, owing partly to the natural uneven
character of the surface, and partly to the reok-
less irregularity with which the early settlers OF
the country cleared out the lands. a field OF ten
acres has been cleared in one place, field OF
twenty in another, one of fifty in another-with
patch of woodland left here, and strip there,
so that it is now almost impossible to adopt any
uniform system of division, on many excellent
farms. But ever without much uniformity in
the arrangement of fields, the most successful
farmers have generally introduced good do.
gree of regularity in the rotation OF crops.
iSusten,s-It has been already stated, that the
leading crops of tho county are corn, wheat, oats
and grass. These are the only products which
receive sufficient attention, to be conspicuous IN
any system of rotation In general use. on those
20 Ems WHARF all the four crops Just mentioned,