Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-09-13

OuI 1dIIu6rS nave E6COn0 50 dCCuStOLu-
ed to pay particular attention to those
crops which bring direct and immediate
return for their labor in money that very
few bestow any considerable care upon
their pastures. Even in our best dairy
districts there is more attention paid to
the hay crop than to the pasture, not be-
cause the former is of so much more value,
but because, if there should be surplus,
it will command ready cash. Low,
marshy lands, unfit for cultivation with
out drainage, and therefore yielding but
very small quantity of nutritious grasses,
or some bald, rocky hill, with scarcely
sufficient soil upon it to support the low
est grade of weeds, are the spots usually
selected for pastures. Where there are no
such low lands or rocky hills, the summer
fallow, woods, or roadsides are used in
stead, and COWS pasturing in this manner
are expected to give milk and keep fat at
the same time. .-g+
After the hay crop is gathered perhaps
the cattle are allowed to Craze in the
meadow, consuming a portion of the stub
BILE and what little good grass there may
be left Is it any wonder that cattle pas
tured in this manner yield very little
profit to their owners or begin the winter
in first-rate condition ?
1t is a waste to keep stock of any kind
and not give them plenty of good whole
some food, and although as a rule they
obtain more and better feed in summer
than in winter, still there is great neg
lect ON the part of our farmers in provid-
ing good pasturage. In all of our East
ern States there is an abundance of land
such as we have named, that might be,
with but little expense, put into condition
to yield abundance of pasturage for all
the stock now kept in that region. The
low grounds require drainage, the wild
sedge grasses should be destroyed, and
the more nutritious species sown in their
place. These very lands, which now
yield scarcely enough to pay taxes there
on, might be made to pay a handsome re-
turn on the cost of reclamation. For pas
turage such lands are far superior to the
high and dry fields, inasmuch as they are
not so liable to suffer from drought in
summer, but in their natural condition
they yield poor quality of grass, and are
unhealthy even for animals.
We have known instances where the
swamp grasses were killed, and by SIM
ply opening wide deep bitches out, then
giving the land liberal application of
lime, following it with bushel of red
top grass seed per acre. But this is not
so sure a mode of retaining swamp
lands as plowirg and cultivating one or
two years before seeding down. Old pas
lures on dry soils may be greatly benefit
ed by top-dressing of muck from low
grounds, adding lime to aid in decompos-
ing the vegetable matter applied.
Where the soil is not good and the land
is constantly pastured, it is but reasonable
to suppose that fertility must decline, and
some measure must be adopted to keep
it rich enough to produce the requisite
amount of grass. The best manures for
old pasture are those that can be applied
in liquid form. But few farmers have
the necessary implements for distributing
such fertilizers; therefore the next best
should be used, which is, undoubtedly, a
well-decomposed compost of barnyard
manure and muck. Ashes, lime, bone
dust, or superphosphates may be used
with benefit as pdressing.
In the Western States the farmers have
had the run of wild pasturage so long that
they are very slow to adopt the more civ
ilized system of keeping their cattle with
in prescribed limits. But this they will
have to do ere long, and we think that
even where there is plenty of wild lands,
home pasturage would in the end he the
most profitable. Some of the wild prairie
grasses are without doubt very nutritious,
but the loss in time looking for stray cat
tie and the influence which this system
has upon the stock more than counterbal
ance it's apparent economy.
We must look more carefully in the fu-
ture to our pastures, renovating the old
and improving the condition OF the new,
if we would make our stock return large
profit. -NeD York San.
AN Arkansas local soliloquizes thusly: