The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-02-04

The Culture of Glover and Grass

,
Nothing distinguishes this beautiful and |
thrifty country more than the culture of Caorer,
Timothy and Blue Grass And after witness |
ing Its benefits for years prior to and during the
war, / feel satisfied that there are few things |
that wpuld be Of greater profit to North Carolina
than great increase of attention to these plants.
Last .summer prepared some brief articles
on the'Nbject, which elected, was glad to see,
not a LIE interest I have at least done what
Ithen -hoped to be able TO do, namely, visited
this regiar, 50 noted Tor IT'S grasses and l VIII
give the readers af the North Carolina papers
the best method.of. cultvatng them, as L OBJ
tanned it from the lips of the mest experienced
Shenandoah farmers:
ton of the seeding and management of this de-
partment of agriculture conversed with num-
ber of the most experienced men here; among
others the manager Of farm of five thousand
acres, the largest and best farm by far in the
Valley of Virginia-I mean Mr. Michael 5.
| Bird the conductor of the celebrated Steinbur
gen farm.
Czouer-The .Soa-The soil necessary for
| producing Clover is not altogether what some
| appear to imagine. The rule is, the better the
| land the longer the first sowing will continue.
But even light land will bring it. Clover sown
on light land will last, say three or four years;
whilst that which is sown rich, stiff land will
continue to yield for double this length Of time.
Any fair land, with reasonable amount Of fer
tilizers, can be made to produce Clover.
! The Time to Sor-Clover is sometimes sown
here in the fall along with wheat The objec-
ton to this in this climate is the liability of the
seed being frozen out by the severe winters.
Most farmers therefore SOW in March. They
like light fall of snow for covering; the ad-
vantage being that the sower can see how thlckly
he sows. The seed is scattered on the surface
of the snow and as this thaws, the seed works its
way down to the ground, and mingles with the
springing wheat
But the snow is merely an incident. Sow in
North Carolina in February, on wheat, and good
clover will come
The amount of superstition that prevails here
is alarming If the same thing were discovered
by Virynian in North Carolina, it would be
| paraded in the most distasteful manner. In
conversation to-day with one of the best farmers
in this Valley, was assured that the best time
to SOW clover IL in the "sign of the crab; ) and,
to my demur, he argued that the horns of the
moon hang down during the sign of the crab,
and that therefore the roots of the clover strike
down; and as the crab has 'spranglng' feet, SO
the clover ''sprangles"
Clover NAV be sown to advantage with oats, in
spring Sow them together. Many do this.
They either SOW the two seed-oats and clover
in the same hand or else the oats sown
and followed Immediately with clover seed
The Quantity of Seed to the Acre.-The same
rule will hold good both with clover and charity
, He that soweth sparingly will reap sparngy'
Many farmers here SOW one bushel of seed to ten
acres The latter class, however, succeed best
The best rule can obtain, is, one bushcl OF seed
to six acres of good land.
The IcH of CIoyer iSecd-The best seed is
:, obtained from the heads of the first cutting
Di The second cutting is somewhat dwarfed, ano
. less full of good seed I know of one piece Of
four acres here that is said to have yielded this
wear. sixteen bushels of seed, or four bushels t.
the acre. This seed is worth near fifty dollars
to the acre, to say nothing of the pasturase ane
y hay. The truth is, the best of any thing is bes
a for seed | have heard of wheat grower, wh'
went through his fields, bag in hand, just befor
. . harvest, gathering up the finest heads; thes
;. were again gathered and sowed, and this proces
continued wear after year. until wheat of mar
:. vellous quality was obtained.
This second cutting of clover has singula
quality when fed green. 1t causes horses to dis
| charge surprising quantities of saliva from tn
" mouth; so much that it is question whether
l. is best to use it pasture or not.
A. Tfmothu-There is no great difference be
7 tween the culture of clover and that OF timothy
to Timothy is sown in the fall with wheat, Q
i directly after wheat. When wheat is drilled
ne implements are used that provide for sowin
~ both at one time, the wheat passing through Oh
drill and the timothy through another drill
directly in rear of the wheat drill. This admit
n. of the same measure namely, one bushel OF tim
- tby seed to six acres of land Timothy Is muc
N. preferred to clover, for hay. 1t is almost equ
to grain.
The Locality.-Timothy and clover do bett
here. on hillsides than in meadows. MeadoH
are so prolific of weeds that meadow hay is CO
sidered inferior to upland hay. [ have seen
N, growing on the round tops of rolling land. I
c. GOOD upland it seems at home, and will yield pr
o. badly. as rule, two tons to the acre of the be
re- quality of hay
This is fed to horses and cattle in profusio
Enough is given to work horses, at night, to Ii
until morning What they call feeding hor
here. is giving him grain. The hay is us
1t, merely for the filling.
it's. Blue Grnss-No blue grass is sown in ii
ble Valley. although it abounds. Blue grass is t
ey' product of timothy. After certain number
years a timothy sod turns to blue grass l.
tucky is the region fof blue grass. But ev
here it grows very finely, and an immense qu;
tity of it is made and it is highly appreciate
It is a strong, nutritious grass, and when eul
for hay it is highly valued. If were asked
gs' the KEY to the wealth of this Valley, the pride
;..s the American Continent, would say, cloV
inc, timothy and blue grass.
edi- have been at some trouble to obtain, Fl
all living witnesses of the first class correct ide