Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-05
THB CITY.
DAVIDSON COUNTY FARMERS
CLUB
ReguIae Meeting.
Grass Overwhelmingly La
Dor Question and Immigration.

utes of the last meeting, which were ap-
proved.
RECEPTION CF MEMBERS.
The name of Mr. T. N. McKeever was
proposed as member of the Club.
On motion of Rev. Tolbert Tanning,
the following-named gentlemen were made
honorary members of the Club, namely:
A. B. Robinson, Esq of Coffee; Joseph
Harlan, Esq, of Sumner county, and
James @. Owen, of Williamson. In pro-
posing the names of these gentlemen,
Mr.. Tanning remarked that farmers' clubs
were being formed in other counties, and
it had been proposed, as soon as possible,
to have kind of Congress of these or
CARNATIONS.
GRASSES ADAPTED TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE.
The Club then continued the discussion
of the question, "What are the grasses
best adapted to Middle TENNESSEE" timothy
being the grass selected for consideration
and discussion at this meeting.
Gen. Hardings name being first called
by the Secretary, that gentleman arose and
said that he had not come prepared to
offer any extended remarks, but he had
nevertheless had considerable experience
Will hO ACSaAhOA tlIuOtuJ dh
the most valuable of all the grasses for
hay, and more especially Tor hay that was
to be handled or shipped or baled. He
had tried several varieties. Many years
ago timothy was grass of which it was
a very easy thing to produce stand, and
also a very considerable amount of grass,
and the meadow lasted for many years.
He used to have meadows twenty and even
thirty years of age, that were even at that
age, good productive meadows.
Timothy was introduced into this coun-
try before blue grass. The General re-
marked that he considered blue grass to be
q great enemy to timothy meadows. Be-
fore the introduction of blue grass our
timothy meadows lasted almost without
limit, and produced year after year for
twenty or thirty years. But since we have
been growing blue grass more extensively,
it gets into our timothy meadows in a few
years probably not more than six orseven
years-and begins to sprinkle itself through
the meadows, and encroaches upon the
timothy every year. And in few years
after the blue grass takes hold, it will root
the timothy out. So now, In buying my
timothy seed, look more carefully for
blue grass seed in my timothy than for any
of the noxious weeds would rather SOW
dock would rather SOW anything in with
my timothy than blue grass. Still, 1 value
blue grass in its place, as the first Of
grasses, yet it causes more trouble in our
meadows than anything else.
Again, our seasons have become dryer,
and there is much greater difficulty in
getting stands of timothy than formerly.
When l commenced sowing meadows l
had no difficulty in getting a stand of
timothy whether I sowed the seed in the
fall or in the spring-whether sowed in
the fall with wheat and barley or in the
spring with my oats. For many years 1
never failed Now 1 SOW in the fall, and
timothy is frequently winter-killed; SOW
in the spring, and it is killed by the long
drouths of summer. But these difficulties
should not deter us; we should continue
to SOW and to perserve until We get a
stand. Hence, if l SOW in the fall and my
timothy is killed, SOW in the spring, and
if tits killed then l SOW again, and persevere
until I succeed. have never given up,
and have never entirely failed after re:
peated efforts. My sowing last spring
was very fortunate. 1 have a very fine
and promising young meadow now (prob-
ably one hundred acres) that l sowed last
spring, a year ago.
am satisfied, however, that under the
changed state Of our climate, we must SOW
more seed than we have formerly been in
the habit of sowing. got good stands of
clover manyyears ago, witha gallon ofseed
to the acre; now, l would recon mend not
less than two and half gallons, or even q
peck of seed to the acre. Again, the bet
ter the stand you get, the thicker your
grass comes up, and the more will it keep
out the weeds. The white blossom, like
the blue grass, has also increased largely,
and seems to be yearly increasing; and
that is another troublesome seed for our
meadows. Still, that is not as pernicious
as it seems to the inexperienced. True,
Won cannot sell the white blossom in the
market, bit if you expect to consume the
hay at home, and even make your timothy
with large amount of white blossom in
it, you will find that it will make good hay.
Stock will eat it, and eat it readily, and
mules and cattle seem to do almost as well
upon it as upon the timothy alone. l know
that some differ with me, and considering
the white blossom IS troublesome as any
other seed, they throw it'away. But
1 have some hands to run along the win
row and pick out the white blossom, and
then make hay of the white blossom
alone, and it pays very well for the labor
of picking it out. would Iather not have
to do it, because all the labor is needed a
that season of the. year; but l will moi
throw the white blossom away, because it
is valuable. l stack it In my pastures anC
let the stock go to it in the winter.
also stack my straw, and that helps the
cattle Sometimes there is also a fine
growth of crab grass and some fox tail anC
some rag weed. l rake this up; you can
/ not sell it in the market, but at the same
time it pays largely for the labor o
saving it. have this winter taken quit
a large number of steers that l expect Il
bring into market this spring, and the!
have had nothing else but straw and THU
kind of weeds. l sprinkle a little salt OF
the stack, and the stock eat it and do vel
upon it. have no doubt that they woult
do better upon better hay, but 1 canno
afford to feed beef cattle upon first clas
hay, worth here in the market dolla
a hundred, while l can save that whicl
is not worth one cent in market, and feet
it to them.
It is valuable in another respect.
comes on at the conclusion of your oorI
crop and your Oat crop. The Glove
comes on at the most busy season Of tn
year, hence on that account also, 1 prefe
| the timothy.
Now, what is the proper time to Gu
timothy? Some would say as soon as
| blooms: others say, after il has bloomet
and the bloom has fallen. If / could Gu
it all on the day 1 thought it would max
the best hay, 1 would cut it Just abou
the time it has lost larger portion of tn
bloom If you cut it too green (ike gree
fodder the stalk will shrivel, and afte
being cured it will break short, but if 20
let it get little ripper than that, the stal
| will bend.
How much sun should it have2 That is
question that can only be determined b
experience. The proper time to put it u
is to let it have the least sun possible, S
| that you can get it up and be sure that
will not mould. If there is too muc
moisture in it, it will mould and thereb
injure the hay. If the weather is settled
| can cure the hay better in cocks, but a
these things have to be governed by Gil
cumstances.
The best time to cut hay is just after th
bloom stops.
d. Mr.. Fanning-Can you grow your tim
| othy best by combining it with othe
grasses or alone?
Gen Harding-I think timothy pays m
best alone.
| Can HARDING then made Soma reroark