Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-15
FARM AND GARDEN.
HATS on Grass Culture aud Dairy
Farming.

HINTS on Grass Culture aud Dairy
Farming.
Many Of our Tennessee farmers may pro-
ftably study and act upon the hints con-
tanned in the following article from the pen
of Or. Lee which we find in the May num-
Der Of the american Farmer of Baltimore
Believing in the idea Of learning from
one another, which implies teaching one |
another through the agricultural press, / |
will tell your 4subcriber' in Cumberland !
county, n. c., how he may seed his impov
erished land TO grass, and make the pro- |
dnction Of butter at thirty cents pound |
profitable business. He says: "The land |
on which / propose farming is river bot |
tom. originally of only medium fertility, |
and exhausted almost to the point of I'M
productiveness by careless and improper |
cultivation"
The fact that this land has been culti- |
waited for years shows that it is not natu
rally too wet for herds-grass, timothy and |
other grasses How 10 obtain good stand |
of these in the cheapest and best manner,
il the first question TO be considered. First |
obtain the several grass seeds to be sown,
sufficient for all the ground to be plowed |
and seeded in one year. The surface to be |
gone over depends on ones capital, teams,
laborers. and confidence in pushing a new
enterprise NV confidence is such that i
expect to seed in grass between eighty and
one hundred acres in the current year.
Herds-grass grows well on pretty wet land,
makes good pastures and meadows, fine, nu-
tricious hay, and yields seed in great profu- |
sion. The latteris cheaper and more ahund- |
=. IL. hot Ian nv ai 10
10 the barns Of farmers in Cumberland |
county, who raise and feed hay, "a subscri- |
Der" may find fresh seed, which probably |
NAV be bought at low figure in the chat, |
and sown as found. The writer raises |
most of the grass seed sown on his land as
a matter of economy, and TO avoid seeding |
his farm with pesuferous weeds bought |
their seeds) in grass seeds. To check the |
growth of weeds in the soil, il is important |
10 SOW grass seed with a liberal hand and |
evenly over all the ground. One may get |
a fine set of grass and clover by sowing |
seed in the standing corn Immediately |
after the last working ofthe crop. On land |
rich enough to bring fair crop OF oats, or
wheat grass seed may be sown with either |
of these cereals to advantage. But on poor |
land. If ANYTHING is sown with grass seed, |
With me, grass seed, mixed with yard and |
stable manure. never failed, but il is inn |
possible on poor land for beginners TO have |
a 1.-THE of the stable manure needed for |
seeding land by the one hundred acres, or |
even Ia ten acre fields Hence one should |
resort 20 thor0agh illdgc in preparing a |
seed bed, and wait patiently for time to |
develop the latent fertility in poor soil, |
well supplied with grass seed, aided by |
such help from plaster, wood ashes, line, |
mari, bone dust, or chips, or guano, as one |
may be able to give. Grass culture Is very |
simple, and pays a larger interest
on land and labor than any other crop of
equal value. Care should be taken TO NOW
all weeds and sedges before they rlpen any
seed. Dig up all sedge roots with hoe,
"a they are generally perennial, ana apt
ultimately, 20 spread and take the ground
to the exclusion of all better grasses
When sedge gets largely the advantage, the
field should be plowed, planted to coon, or
sown TO some small grain, and re-seeded TO
grass In this way sedge may be exterml-
mated for a few years at least,
To secure reliable income from grass,
one should make the raising OF grass seeds
needed on his farm part OF his business,
that he may have plenty that IS Doth
fresh and clean 10 use at all tunes, Tor NIL
inc vacant places in meadows and pastures.
In this way fields quite free from weeds
bushes, briars, thistles, sedges, and moses
may be formed, with an abundance OF nu-
tritious heritage for all farm stock. lghi
bravelv and exterminate all injurious
plants, while kindly treating such as put
money in the pocket IL would be easy TO
nd
oies of grass. which the writer has cult
waited and tested in the South, but II IS not
necessary. Orchard grass, meadow tescue
tall oat grass, both poa ProteHsts ana %"
csu.Drcssdl are most worthy Of extensive /
propagation in addition to those ABOVE
named. ,
There is probably but little difference
between Ayrshire and Scotch hornless
cattle for dairy purposes As DAIRY cows
and working oxen need no horns Tor nook
ing sheep, and one another, the hornless
breeds should have preference ON every /
farm. The Galloway, Angus, and Aber-
deenshire breeds are best known IN scot
land. and the polled Suffolk breed m Eng
land. Ii would require an extended essay
TO do Justice 90 the polied cattle OF GreEt
Britain and this country. Win Judicious
selection and management common nerds
will give a fair lot Of dairy cows 10 DE
profitable they must be well-ied or grazed
every day in the wear. They are machines
forconyerting grass into money, A thorough
knowledge Of these machines Is important
10 the dairyman and stockraiser' one OF
the most enduring benefits that accrue i.om
the large production Of butter Is the iaclilty
il affords for improving a landed estate
Suppose "a subscriber makes ten thou-
sand pounds Of butter year, and sells ~ y AT
thirty cents pound, or for SS0Ou. lhls
crop made on grass has not, like corn,
wheat tobacco. and cotton, required any
rlonghinp 10 pnlverize the soil, and expose
bne PARTICLES Of clay-mould and sand to oe
washed into brooks, creeks, rivers and The
ocean % tie injury of the titled ground.
T;IIaga also favors the teaching oil all
.rsts3 fields 10 a greater or less extent and
,,romotes hist nakedBess OF surface ana
burninr Of the sun, which greatly damage
a gooa farm. Besides these objections 10
the excessive use Of the plough, hoe, mar
row and cultiyator. there Is raised less gram,
cotton aud tobacco en- Impoverished lsnd
with little stock, grass and manure, than
might be grown on half the suriace with
PROPER attention 20 grass, stock ana ma
nure. English farmers greatly excel us 40
raising large crops Of grain by better
balanced system OF husbandry. The agri-
cultural statistic ior the year 1866, Of the
United Kingdom Of Great Britain and
Ireland, have recently appeared in a Par
liAmentary paper, from which the Follow
ing statement i taken Ia England there
are -, 2hl 1913 acres Of land under every
kind Of crops hare failow and grass The
proportion Of live stock is fifteen cattle and
ixiy-eight sheep 20 every one hundred Of
these acres. About one-third Of this
area u, 4O0,i70 acres) il devoted to