Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-07-03

let the ground be SeIlleu .uomh VIZ. 49,,
heavy roller. This implement hes at the E
foundation of profitable CULTIVATION OF
these light lands; without II, or SOME
suitable substitute, CONSIDER the .sa
lands of little or no value. But Win
the roller. know of no land that gives
a better return for the labor bestowed,
except it be rich, warm intervals, that
usually receive deposit from an annu,
al overflow. The sowing OF grass SEED
among corn you have probably seen de-
scribed in the New England Farmer. l
have given the preference to corn, but
the grass seeds may do well II sown Win
a thin seeding of oats or buckwheat, ana
thoroughly rolled-and better, IT s0Wn
by itself alone. If sown with corn, 1t
viii be well to roll the ground after the
planting as well as before; and the corn
should be cultivated with a tlne-tooth
harrow, instead of a pillow or cultiyator,
and the ground kept level, Motel
presume the grass seeds are not sown
among the corn until August or Sep
tember-L. 3.
II have been frequently solicited to
give through the press, the information
YOU request, and should have done so be-
fore this, but have waited for further
results. In the mean time | can say
that the 80 or 40 acres of pine land,
from the description you give, is really
the most valuable part of the farm in
my estimation, and cannot of itself,
when duly appreciated, offer your friend
occasion to be sick of his bargain
81 have some experiments with swamp
muck in hand, with which | feel much
encouraged. If your friend can find a
deposit of decayed vegetable matter-a
frequent accompaniment of pine plains
near his 80 or 40 acres, he undoubted-
ly can enrich them to almost any deiira-
Bile extent with little expense. ~.
Col. Clark speaks Of ''Mr. Phinney's
method. Some 80 or 40 years ago Col.
p. of Lexington, Mass, was one of the
prominent scientific and practical far
mers Of those times. He came into pos
session of an old, wOrn-out farm. For
a few years he pursued the usual course
of farming of that section, viz, green
sward plowed in autumn the inverted
sod manured in the following spring
ground narrowed and planted with corn
and potatoes The following spring the
corn stubble ground was plowed, turn
ing up the inverted sod, and land har-
rowcd, and grain and grass seeds Sown.
This process brought to the surface the
half decayed vegetable matter Of the in
verified grass sod, which was left upon
the surface to dry up and waste away,
and practically making it of little value
to the grain and succeeding grass crops.
Neither OF those crops proved satlsfac-
tory. ...-. .......
1t occurred to him to attempt to as
certain the amount Of vegetable matter
in an acre Of land, yielding about one ton
of dried hay per acre. He therefore
took one foot square Of this grass field
Is or 10 inches deep washed the soil
from among the roots OF the grass, and
ascertained that the stubble and roots of
an acre of that field would weigh twelve
tons CNote--I presume that this yege-
table matter was weighed in its green
state-L. b The question then came
up ia the mind of Col. p, Glow can
best economic this large amount of
plant food ?" Common sense gave the
answer. saying: Keep the inverted sod
where the pillow placed it. For your
corn crop. apply your manure &c the in
vcrted sod; plant corn, keep the land
free from weeds, and the following
, spring instead of turning up the old
sod in preparing the land for grain and
grass. use Il light horse pillow, not plow-
, ing more than four inches deep-Or use
heavy cultivation BY so doing. you
will save much labor; you will obtain a
much better and finer filth for your
grain or grass seeds !: escape the bother
Of Jumps and cIods. and in ll-prObabili-
tv harvest much heavier yield of grain
aud grass than by the old method, be
cause the roots Will descend to the de
composing vegetable matter of the sod
which, like a sponge, will retain the
ascending moisture from the subsoil,
and the crops thereby suffer but little
from drnuths
Mr.. Smith lin his letter. plants corn
on inverted sod after the corn is off.
plOws and sows winter rye and grass
seeds, but does not pillow so deep as to
disturb the sod turned down the spring
previous. In this respect Mr.. S. is on
the right track.
In the fall of 1871 | plowed about
three acres of light, sandy soil. Two
acres were planted with cOrn--a fair
dressing of manure applied and Cultivat-
ed in. The last season. 1S72) was q
very rainy one, and fair yield of corn
was the result. One acre was planted
with white beans, superphosphate in the
hills. This spring intend to SOW the
land with oats and grass seed, tOp-dress-
ing with plaster In preparing the land
for the oats, shall use n heavy OK cult
vator. If any one would offer to pillow
the lawn gratis so deep as to turn up the
inverted sod, | should refuse such an
offer.
Within the past twenty years, in this
section of New Hampshire, hundreds of
once good farms have been abandoned.
They are mostly on bleak, rocky hills,
by bad management worn out, as it is
generally termed; while on the other
hand there are in this State thousands
upon thousands of acres of pine plain
lands uncultivated that might easily be
made to yield remunerative crops of
most kinds of farm products usually
grown in this section. Properly mana
ged they are the surest lands we have
for the production of winter wheat To
improve these lands, the first requisite is
to get upon them a good sod of red-top
or June grass. Plow this under with a
fair top-dressing of fine manure, well
worked in with the cultivator, to be
followed with a heavy roller, for there
is no danger of getting subsoils Except
when very wet) too compact. The land
is then prepared for corn, grain or grass.
A good sod is the starting point for the
successful cultivation of paying crops
on these light lands, and that sod kept
where the pillow placed it. LEVI BART
LETT, Warren, n. III.