The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-06

this clover is pretty well set. They are
really fat-wsll fitted for the shambles-
better than half the stock We see driven to
market. The neighbors began to take up
the idea that they were partially stalled !;
but the owner assured me positively TINS
was not the case and that cattle on the
same pasture had never been known 70 40
30 we'll as they have done this year. as 10
satisfied this is the effect of the hespedeza'
from the fact that they keep 1t SO CLOSELY
eaten down.
There can, therefore, no longer be the
least ground for the complaint that the
South has no pasturage. There is no tell
inc the amount of stock that may De sus-
tanned among us after this clover becomes .e
spread throughout these States for Wnlie
the higher and thinner uplands will a1loru
abundance of summer food, the rlcher
creek and river bottoms, where the Lespe-
deza will attain q height of from TWO 10
three feet without assistance from manure
will SIMPLY q nutritious winter .provender'
for which. it is said, horses and horned cat
tie manifest singular fondness. why not
sheen. goats, mules, asses, etc., also by
q verv thick sowing of the seed on bottoms
in March it is quite likely that good crop
If bav might be secured by the first OF the
SoIlowinp October; but I cannot speak
positively. 1t would require ABOUT Tour
dollars worth of seed to the acre. AFTER
that it might be mown for years at no e3-
peDse whatever
In the next place, any one who has paid
proper attention to this plant cannot well
fail to be satisfied that it will act most ia
vorably in reviving the productive powers
of our WORKOUT lands, however exhausted
they may be, by its own agency alone )
how much more 80 in preventing the
deterioration Of such as are compare
tiyelv new and in good heart! This
appears to be clearly deducible from the
surprising increase Of it on the poorest
land it once gets start on. On one spot
near this place containing some acres, on
rough hillside, and exhibiting most I'M
promising aspect, being little other than
bare surface of red clay, it now forms nearly
a continuous mass, though last summer
GS67) only few sprigs scattered here ana
there were to be seen. What is more, STOCK
of one kind or another have been running
on it constantly since last April. One is at
a loss to account for this productiveness on
any other supposition than that, like the
black walnut, the butternut, the white flow
ering locust, and such like, it has
the property in some way of enrich
ing the soil beneath it and pro-
noting it's own growth. Indeed, where it
once becomes established and densely mat
ted together, as is most commonly the case
by the end of the second summer, it is hard
to conceive how it could do otherwise than
have this effect for it cannot fail of de-
posting very considerable amount OF
vegetable matter whenever the frost cuts
down its succulent stems and foliage. But
the best evidence of the fact in question
its power to enrich the SOILS the appear
ance it imparts to it. 1t makes 1t light and
friable,-1 presume always to depth pro-
portioned to the height and density with
which it has grown-and gives it more
dark and loamy look the very first year.
There is not question that on lands capa-
BILE of producing ten or fifteen bushels of
corn to the acre this clover, well set and in
a favorable season, would return several
tons of rich vegetable matter to the soil the
same year after crop of wheat, cats, or
other small grain, had been taken off. How
long would it take, here at the South,
for red clover, which requires so much pa
tient, laborious, and expensive coaxlng, to
do the same7 The superiority of the Les
pedeza is that it will not only give very
large return on land Of very moderate
quality, but that the seed can be had at so
little expense, and that once in the soil 1t
is there forever. I do not believe there
would be such thing as eradicating it in any
number of years. Fortunately, it can do
no harm nothing, as far as at present ap-
pears, but good. Add to this its capablllty
of producing the densest shade-shade now
getting to be regarded as the best of fertil-
at all excluding the air and
counteracting its influences; its power
of retaining moisture of penetrating
the ground deeply by its long, tibrous
roots, and drawing up its inorganic
riches to the surface, and II IS evil
dent we have fertilizer in this plant
acting in all the capacities of red clover,
with all its power and twice its dispatch,
at mere 1.-THE of the expense ; indeed, IN
the great majority of cases, at no expense
at all for such is its natural tendency to
spread itself that in every hundred acres
man may own there will tens of them be-
come COESTcu hllHuuJ lbS pSi1iluiS VI o
single cent, because on them the seed from
adjoining patches will have sown itself.
This, however, can only be depended on as
the result Of some years, as the course OF
its progress is irregular. The wisest plan
is for every man to SOW as largely as he
can of it at once. He will never regret
having covered his old fields with it too soon.
Any one wishing to obtain seed is adj
vised to communicate with me at Sherrill's
Ford, Catawba county, North Carolina, en-
closing stamped envelope, superscribed with
their own address, for return.
T. S. W. Mort.
X This is point on which the proprietor Is to
exercise his own judgment. IN some cases he
might pasture his land, perhaps the very first sea-
son. l would not mtslead, and therefore speak
with great caution
For the Dispatch
New pursuits-Why are the People
Sn Sscxp tn En~ure IN Et,pyu1