Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1862-06-05
AGRICULTURAL.
hungarian Grass. .
Mn. EpIrOa: The regular visits Of thel

fre HuusaEldh HfasSs s;g.r = |
Mn. EpITOR. The regular visits Of the
Farmer are enough to reaind one. Of. his
obligations to mankind in general, and
your excellent paper in psrtieulSs i
The almost universal cOndemaaHon Of
Hungarian Grass prompts me 10 offey a
few thoughts in relation to ii. II may
not be, a very profitable crop 10 raise, but
I think iE has been condemned on wrong
grounds. ia i eees b '1oas 'aa
Some time since Isaw an article in the
New-York World, from an Illinois farmer,
complaining bitterly. of a recommends
-tion of Hungarian ia a previous issue Of
that paper. He stated that the farmers
of his section raised ii extensively one
season-fed a part of it and burned the
rest, not being able 10 sell it, or willing
to feed it. He said that stock ate il with
avidily; and horses, cattle, hogs and
chickens died around the stacks. He
further stated that high spirited horses
became dull and languid in q short time
when fed upon it, and at once regained
their spirits by change of feed. 2s5
l am at loss to know how this could
be, unless they were fed 50 freely. as. TO
get too much seed before they we're ac.
customed to it. Corn will do as bad as
thai if feed iniudiciously, as / know to
my sorrow, having lost a good COW by one
accidental surfeit. I have raised Hum
garian Grass for the last three years /;
fed freely to all kinds of stock, but have
not been able to realize the slightest in
jnry to single animal. I have fed three
horses almost exclusively on it for the last
five months, without any apparent change
in their health or spirits. / have my
doubts, however, about its being very
profitable crop to raise on the whole,
where corn can be raised so easily. 1
have two objections toll: One is it is a
very exhausting crop, andIthe other is it
is hard 10 get rid of when ii once gets
hold of the soil. Two years agoI sowed
one and half acres on good bottom land.
Owing to the drouth it was cut very ear
ly, and not half the seed was ripened;
consequently it could not have its full
effect in exhausting the soil. The next
season I sowed the ground to hemp, and
on the Hungarian stubble the hemp was
not so high by about eighteen inches as
on either side, one side of which had
beans the year before, and the other side
Buckwheat. u 80 40
One such experiment may not be sufi-
cient to establish fact, but enough, at
least 10 create doubt. Four years ago
sowed small patch for the first, and
although l have cultivated with other
crops ever since, there were still patches
of grass coming up last season. Ny
opinion is that corn SoWed broadcast, and
plowed or narrowed in, will yield more
feed to the acre, and of better quality
than Hungarian, and leave the ground in
better condition for the next crop. | in
tend to test the value Of this opinion by
experiment, and may give you the result
at some future time. hope others will
give the result of their experiments, both
with Hungarian and sowed corn, If
Hungarian must be set aside, let il be
for the true cause, and not condemn itfor
murder when its only crime is, not being
able to compete with its betters.
G. L. GRIFFrNo.
Table Rock, 1862.