Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-07-14
Orchard Grass.

The following by IL. +. Allen, OF Black
Rock, is copied from the Tribune:
We have known this grass constantly
not in large quantities, to be sure
for the past 80 years, and know its
value for the various purposes we have
mentioned; but for soiling stock IN the
summer season, we consider its quail
ties the most eminent. A few OF its
qualities will be stated
|. 1t starts early in the spring, with a
broad, oat-like leaf, growing rapidly and
arriving at It's highest condition of eX-
cellenee when in early bloom, which is
about the time of the blossoming of the
common red clover and, if made into
hay, fit to cut at the same time. Yet,
for soiling purposes, it may be cut some
DAYS, or even some weeks, earlier. 1t
is better, however, for the full amount
Of nutriment it will afford, to wait until
the flower is fairly developed. Its quail
ties are sweet, nutritious, abundant in
production, tall as ordinary oats IN
growth, and heavy burden to the area
on which it is produced. If suffered to
stand long enough to mature its seed,
the stalk fiber becomes hardy, harsh and
unpalatable to stock; therefore it must
be cut before it arrives at its seed-rpen
ing condition, as is the case with most
other grasses for dry forage purposes.
No grass which we have ever grown has
yielded so heavy swath as this, nor one
from which so much cattle food to the
acre can be grown, aside from Lucerne
or TrefOil, which our American climates
will not consecutively, year after year,
produce. No grass, not even red clover,
springs up so rapidly after cutting as
this. We have known it in showery
weather start fully three inches within
aweek after cutting, and SO continue
for repeated cuttings throughout the
season, retaining its verdure into the
latest frosts, and then afford q pastur-
age sweet and nutritiuus, inviting to all
kinds of farm stock inclined to grazing.
2. AS hay, its quality is good, when
cut in its early flower, but inferior when
gone to seed, attaining then a woody
fiber, as before remarked, yet, when cut
and steamed, equal in nutritious quail
ty to other late cut grasses. The steam
ing or cooking process reduces It's
fibrous stalk to comparative pulp,
rendering it palatable to the taste OF
animals, and congenial to the action OF
the stomach for nutritious uses. AS
hay, it cures readily its long growth
renders it easy to rake and handle it
stores compactly in either stack or
NOW; cuts easily with the hay knife In
the NOV when fed dry in winter, and
is every way as convenient long
fodder as any other. Such are its quail
ties for hay. -.......
3. AS soiling stock through the sum
mer month is now coming rapidly into
practice, we can do no better service to
the tarmer-more particularly to the
dairyman-than to recommend the
orchard grass for that purpose; and for
the following reasons: 1t is early. 1t
grows continuously throughout the
summer and fall seasons. 1t is perma-
nent in it's occupation Of the soil, having
strong tibrous root maintains Its hold
in clumps, or tussocks, against any ana
all other grasses, even the blue grass
which crowds out almost every other
making no inroads on its possession,
when once fairly rooted. We have a
field Of it, on strong clayey loan,
which has stood for more than 3Oyears.
1t has been cut for soiling it has been
cut for hay; it has been pastured; it
was first sown with red clover and
timothy, which it long ago run out
and, although the white clover and blue
grass venture their presence to q limited
extent among it, the orchard grass re-
tains its supremacy, and breast high at
maturity, lords it over its diminutlve
trespassers in a bounteous crop, while
its humber attendants, good in their
place, modestly fill up great, nutrl-
tious underground at the bottom
1t has been objected to the orchard
grass that it grows too mich in. stools,
or tussocks If it has q fault, that is
one of them; but full seeding will
measurably remedy that 1t does not
stool or spread so universally as the
blue grass, or perhaps some others, but
it forms d strong, compact root, and
that root it holds firmly, enduringly,
and, if given a moderate amount OF fer
tilizing matter, its roots fill the surface,
and there they stay, yielding to moth
ing but the utmost abuse by treading
out in spring by heavy cattle-which
SIlOulO IcfCI pC obIlOWOA Oll 'bilJ q e"'NN'
or the plow itself.
The seed of the orchard grass, from
its absence of general cultivation, is not
found in abundant quantity at the seed
stores of our towns and cities, and the
price may be dear compared with timo-
thy, and the clovers; yet not so dear as
to prevent the farmer from obtaining it
in sufficient quantity for trial, and from
a small area of ground, to supply his
own wants in seed hereafter. 1t yields
bountifully, and when ripe, which is
easily known by its assuming yellow
ish color, it may be cut and bound in
sheaves like oats, or moved, cured and
threshed out, like timothy. The entire
process of its cultivation is as simple as
any of our ordinary grasses.