Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-11-09
8itral and domestic.
PlOwias up old Pastures.
y & Il ic uIt nj al:

Flowing up old Pastures
Mr.. Maine in the Edinburg Quar- erly Jpur-l
ma Of Agriculture for, 1884, writes an inter,
esting article on this subject, from which We.
make few extracts
struck when boy, with delight at the
evergreen meadows of Doncastef, and the
freshness, in the dead of winter, of the felds
near London, could not, in settling in the
North, help contrasting them-with tseliug
almost bordering on disgust-with our Witty
brown grass parks OF Scotland, wearing, in
many places, pale blue tint till the beginning
of june, or pulled off in the newspapers as af
fording "a full l,ite' in the middle Of May. 1
said TO myself "cannot industry and excrtiop
ptoddce change in our grass lands Per.
haps we cdhhot expect to vie with Doncaster
or London, but still something may be done"
So doffing the gay soldiers coat and putting
on holden gray; set to work to try II find
pasture could not be got in Scotland. Long
did toll at top-dressing -slthodgh neverEail-
ing, oft recommended receipts Of this com:
pound and that compound tried in vain
peat-earth in all the varied shapes Of mixture
with lime and dung. soot composts with scrap
ings Of bitches or other rnattef-all those /
acopeia of agricultural quacks and soon
found out that without the aid OF plow and
barrow, nothing could be done-id other
words, that the ground must be put in good
heart before you can have good grass:
Well, that being done, had fine grass but
it grew bad again; it ~as not fine permanent
pasture. I had recourse, once more; 10 the
old system Of top-dressing, and Of course inn
proved the pasture, but again il fell of. By
this time had before my eyes the palpable
fact. that new laid down grass was good, and
that, do what would, old grass could not be
made to bring the same rent. "As
1t appears to me, that only on certain soils
and situations, that pasture can be allowed to
remain without great loss; that such situa-
tions are fat meadows, or the neighborhood Of
rivers or streams rich in alluvial soil, and the
natural habitat of the pasture plants, or Il, The
vicinity of large towns, where manure has
been applied till the ground could not bring
grain crop to ihaturity /; and that on all other
situations recourse must be had to the plow as
soon as failure in the grass crop takes place,
and the breaking up will entirely depend od
the quality of the land and manner in whieh
i has been treated, there being no such trus
inerring guide to the quality Of the land As
the length of time it can be left in pasture. W
In conclusion, would make brief recaE
pitulation of my sentiments I maintain that
except few favored spots, as banks Of rvers.
&C.. 40 ground can without loss, be left long
in pasture that il appears to me four or ave
years is, generally speaking, the longest period
and should be allowed to lie in grass that X
pasture be the object, at the end Of that time.
he ground should be broken up and returned
10 grass again maintain that without grass;
severely cropped land cannot be restored to
ul fertility, and without cropping, grass can
not be made to continue at the maximaIH
point of utility and verdure. MFas