Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-03-07
kaIMel7S n UOpNl ImnE.

IMPROVEMENT OF PASTURES
'Thp condition OF the pastures in many
of the older dairying distric's IS " 'o'
.nsctso,e. Farms that wOold once carry
fortv cows, and make eight thousand lbs
ofbu,ter. will not now support half mat
number. In ihe familiar language ol these
d;s,,;e,s ./the land has been "oowed to
aootb% The pastures have been fed ny
6om time immemorial, receiving
,\',s the manure dropped by the animals
- daring the dav Three lourths oil all
that the land produced WIS carried away
TO the yard, aud none of this came back
The soil grew thin and the grass died out
for want Of nourishment, What can DO
done to bring up such pastures
An ounce Of practice is said to be worth
around of theory. ltis, undoubtedly, II
Of the right kind. In the spring off 1860
thewriter came into possession Of two
acre lot run down mellow. 1t was used
as a pa ture because there was not grass
enough upon it to pay for cuttirg AS 1t
was convenient to the honse, | used 1t Tor
yardinc the cows at night. They were
pastured elsewhere q part Of the time,
and thus all the products of these two
acres, and nearly ionr more besides, were
dropped upon the soil by the cattle
There has been very great improve
ment in the yield of grass the past season,
and the lot, if used for medow another
year, will probably cut twice as much hay
as it did in the sumner of 1860. The
whole secret Of the Improve nent is, that
more has been returned to the soil than
has been taken away.
A similar improvement is witnessed in
pastures devoted to sheep, if they are not
fed too closely. Every thing the land
produces is returned to it by the sheep,
together with good deal the land would
not get, but for the Intervention OF the
edng animals. It i! sometimes claimed
that nothing is g.inad 10 the land by
passing the crops through the bodies Of
animals that hundred pounds Of hay
rotted upon the land, is worth just as
much as the hundred pounds fed out aud
returned in the shape of manure. But
this can not be SO, for the animal draws
some eliments Of its body from air and
water, as will as hay, while the manure
quickens the energies Of the soil, as the
rotted hay would not.
1t is well known in the distrots 6evot-
ed to the feeding of fat cattle, on the
ridges of Dutchess and Putnam counties,
and the western part Of Connecticut that
lands once poor, or nearly run Oh by
hard cropping or pasturlng, have been
brought up to very great fertility, by
plaster and feeding amin is. From ouo
to two bushels of plaster per acrs are
sown every year, AMI fattening cattle
three years old and upward are kept in
them from Spring till Fall, When the
animals are turned in they have their
frames already made and there is DO
. great draft upon the soil for bone earth -
The whole grass is returned to tho soil in
the manure, except the little carried off
in the grain OF the cattle. Some times a
change of stock from cows to flttening
bullocks, or to sheep, will be all that is
necessary for improving a worn out pas
ture. II cows are kept, ihere must be top
dressing, or alteration from pasture to
hocd crops, with heavy manuriog. If the
land is not arabic, topdressidg with com
post or with plaster iu districts where it
does good, will be sufficient.
CONECTICUT.
american AgrtcAt4riSt'