Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-09-07
Agricultural.
HON ro On cnEAr ~

comes a matter of absorbing interest. Al
through the North where cattle are kept uT
through the Winter, the hay crop is of the
first Importance. Indeed, taking the whole
country into the account, the single item o
grass is far more valuable than any other pro-
duct of our soil IL far outstrips corn, cotton
and wheat, which generally attract more at
tention because they are more generally sold,
affecting the commercial exchanges Of the
country. But the lowly grasses that our cat
tie Craze during the Summer, and which, dried,
form their principal food in Winter, are more
important to the prosperity of the country
than any other crop. This crop in the form
of dried grass was estimated at about li,000,-
600 of tuns at the last census, and the pastur-
age is quito as abundant and valuable. The
increased production in the last ten years has
been very great, both from the new lands
brought under cultivation, and from the bet
ter cultivation of tie old. Reckoning hay at
ten dollars a tun, and putting the pasturago at
equal value with hay, the whole crop of the
county can not be worth less than $50 mil
lions Of dollars If by any ohocp process we
could add ten per cent to the production of
| grass it would be an addition of thirty five
millions to the wealth of the country.
With all this enormous aggregate, the pro-
cosses of growing grass are very defective in
| all parts of the country, Not one farmer in
ten resorts to the most economical methods.
My opportunities for observation in my recent
lantern adventures, abundantly confirm me in
this belief The difference between the crops
of good and poor farmers, or between wise
and bad husbandry is moro than three humid
red per cent
The dearest process Of getting hay is that
of neighbor Of my friend Higgins. lie lives
on a fifty acre farm, and has been there for
score Of years or more. Roberts belongs to
the old school of farmers, and nothing is or
thodox with him that is not done in the good
old way. Grass he holds to be "A "natcral
growth" Of the soil, and where a thing comes
naturally, the more you do for it, the worse
1t Is. lie has some twenty acres in moving,
and the gross product of the whole does not
exceed fifteen tuns. The yield per acre is
| always from half tun to one tuu per acre.
This thin half nourishcd grass, he honestly
| believes Is much more nutritious than that
from a well cultivated meadow, though he
can see the difference between half starved
and well fattcd beef, and never fails to prefer
| the latter. lie often declares that he does
! not want land that will yield four tuns of hay
to the acre. lie docs not see how cattle can
eat such stuff, and doubts if it does them any
1 good. Higgins cattle look sleek to be sure,
/ but he feeds with meal, he guesses, and it
must be the meal that makes the flesh
Roberts believes in selling hay, and nothing
/ is more common than to see him start Off to
the city with a load, though he have to sell
| COW during tho Winter for want of fodder to
keep her through His oxen are never able
| to draw full load. for lack of muscle on their
I ribs. His rotation is corn two years with ten
/ loads Of well sun dried and blcached barn
| yard manure to the acre, oats ono year, with
out any manure, and then grass several years,
until it will not produce enough to pay for
moving. The first year after stocking down,
he cuts tun to the acre, and if the seasons
is nncommonly wet, be gets tun and quar-
I ter His yield Of corn is about twenty-five
| bushels to the acre which satisfies his ambi-
ton as well as ninety does the man who takes
the premium at the County fair. In good
grass years he gets profit of four or five dol
lars an acre
Right across the way from Roberts, lives
young Dan Baker, who has been on his so
acre farm only five years, and has already got
the most Of it into good heart. lie has about
the same quantity of land in meadow that
Roberts has, but he gets sixty tuns instead of
fifteen, averaging three tuus to the acre
Roberts, of course, says that "ho don't want
any such coarse stuff for his cattle to cat
but some of your readers will have curiosi-
ty to know how he does it, His rotation is
two yerrs in corn, one in Spring wheat. with
which he stocks down, then in grass four or
five years until he gets ready to pillow again.
lie does not believe in any thing less than
three tuns OF hay to the acre, and has an idea
that land may be kept perpetually in grass
without any falling Off When he takes ur
piece of sward he puts on fifty loads Of goot
stable manure or compost to the acre, anc
more if he has it. lie usually gets from
seventy to eighty bushels Of corn to the acre
To do this, he plows twelve inches deep
while Roberts plows only five. lie stock hi
ground with mixture of grasses, herds
clover, red top, etc. and finds that with deer
blowing, they get a much stronger hold, anc
last longer. lie has great faith in top dress
ing, aud makes compost every year for tn,
purpose of spreading upon moving land. -
On leyil land he spreads this in the Fail anc
Winter. On hill sides he spreads it in Nav
after the erase is well started, so that the
grass may hold the manure, and prevent il
IRON washing. He makes great use of muck
oil which he has large deposit within hund
req rods OF his barn. JUDGED he built hi
. oarh WIN reference 90 the muck mine, so tina
nc could get 1t at small cost for carting. II,
claims that he can make cord of good com
post ior MY cents, and spread it upon th,
moving for fifty more, and that Give cord,
spread upon an acre, will show its effects fo
D three years or more, and will make diGerenc,
in the yield Of three tuns Of my. In otbe
I words he gets three tuns Of hay for five dol
lars, taking it as it stands in the field. Da,
BQkpT hp md "a 81,