Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-05-07

e will supply the herses with MOI
}, hay and grass in fall, winter, spriu
and summer, than any other grai
! yet introduced into Virginia. 1t
! the only grass that grows with u
all the year round, except onl
when the ground is frozen. 1t
not an exhauster to land as
Timothy 1t will grow on any dr.
land, not excepting a sand 6anl
and here, permit me to suggest tina
the best grasses love a dry soil.
We usually seek the bottoms an,
moist places to grow TEmoths
Whyf Because the grass is no
well suited to our sod or climate
Nor are We the losers thereby, s,
| long as Orchard Grass and Glove
are accessible. The Orchard Gras.
will stand the invasions of broom
straw, if you will practice a it'll,
patience, and not suffer it to b.
grazed until it has formed a sod
Then you can't hurt it except will
hogs, or the plough. If any farm
ers are usually scarce of fodder
about LIST of June, or even q little
sooner, let them try an acre lot, il
will be just in time for your wants.
II you want lot, always green, for
/ an idle horse to run in, this will
supply it; or green grass, in winter
for your dairy COW, this is the only
grass that will furnish it. Try it
on a sand bank, if you can't do
better. And if not next spring,
try it next fall with wheat, only
put three quarters of a bushel of
seed in fall, and the rest, one-quar-
ter, in spring, followed by roller.
DR., d. Lee, of Knox County,
Tenn, says in the Southern CaltiOa-
tor that, sooner or later, all South
ern farmers will see and acknOwl-
edge the blunder" of attempting
to pull, by hand, corn blades enough
to feed working stock, cows giving
milk, young cattle, and keep them
in good condition. Such fodder
costs at least five times more per
1000 pounds, than to raise a mix
ture of orchard grass and cloverhay
as recommended by Washington to
Virginia farmers. DIR. Lee adds:
AS additional evidence of the
tenacity with which this grass
holds the ground, l may re-
mark, that eighteen years ago,
when in charge of the Agricultural
Department, at Washington, L
seeded an orchard with orchard
grass in the District of Columbia,
on a farm bought for experimental
purposes, which has yielded good
crops ever since, without re,seeding,
as my son informs me, who lives on
the farm. Recently, while visiting
my son, l noticed a little sedge in
the grass, but not enough to injure
the hay. l have raised orchard
grass with equal satisfaction in
Georgia, and feel that / can not
render Southern agriculture no
better service than to commend it |
to the attention of all who would |
rejoice to see our section command |
a large profit with less labor on the
farm.
A few days since while in Knox
vile, saw farmers selling corn from
fat boats at sixty cents bushel,
and hay from wagons at twenty
i've dollars a ton. AT these prices,
| farmer receives 81 % per 100 lbs.
If hay, and 81 20 for los lbs. shelled
,orn. Now l can raise 900 pounds
# hay as easily as 100 pounds Of
,Orn; while the hay will bring
welye times more money than the
,Orn, on my farm. These facts in
licate very clearly the excess Of
,orn culture in Tennessee, and the
of grass culture. The
Southern mind clings to traditional
practices and errors with a force
hat nothing apparently can over
,eme. A single horse will cut five
lcres of grass in day, yielding fif-
cen or>twenty thousand pounds Of
good hay; worth from $3.50 to $500.
compare pulling fodder by lazy
negroes with this haying opera
ion? A single horse will rake and
bitch the hay on five acres in less
han q day. Labor-saving ma
,hinery is more needed in our ag-
'iculturc than any thing else, 10
in part for the loss Of
slaves. More farmers must raise
,rass, horses and mules, or many
will find working stock too scarce
md high for them to purchase.
The correspondent of the Cincin-
lati Commercial, who visited Mr..
DicksOn's plantation, reports that
While 40 freedmen produced less
cotton than 60 slaves, they de-
jtroyed or injured working stock
fre fold more than when Mr.. ID.
owned the Iaborers, as we'll as mules
hat titled his ground. This con-
Of live horse flesh is new
md important agricultural fact.
To enhance the price of mules,
5 to breed more mares to Jacks,
md thereby diminish the number
Of breeding mares raised in all
mule raising districts. Hence, both
horses and mules will inevitably
become scarce in the South for our
breeding stock is steadily becoming
ess, simply because We raise mules
instead of breeding animals. When
he million rush into cotton grow
ng and at once over work and under
.eed mules and horses, prudent men
will quietly buy brood mares, SOW
grass seed and clover, and produce
in the cheapest manner.
Grass culture and stock raising re-
Iuire very little labor, save all
fields from washing, improve land,
give sure crops, and large
profits. Southern farmers pillow too
much surface, and every way over
do tillage, as though it was the
middle and end of all |