Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-09-17
Reclaiming Pasture Lands.

with time and patience at all. l have no
ferns, nor brakes, nor barberry bushes, nor
Canada thistes to fight. am not troubled
with huckeberry bushes nor bayberry. Trees
don't grow on my pastures. They are
smooth enough, heaven knows. And never
have to feed them close to keep out the poor
grasses. But they are covered with dry,
crackling moss, which takes the place Of
grass, bushes, aud everything else Now, il
is Of no use TO wait for this stuff TO 20 of
for it will not 20 Of its own accord. And so
am obliged to stir up the land somehow or
other, aud make the grass grow where tho
moss has got possession. Land may recu.
perate itself, as Mr. Thomas says but 1
think that land which will grow but little
grass and no bushes and great deal of moss
has lost tho power Of recuperating itself and
needs help OF some kind Such land as this
needs manure Of some sort. and must have
it. You must iertilze it with something,
aud in some way, il you ever expect to make
decent pasture out Of it. You must either
pillow and manure II or top-dress IL. Now,
am not much in favor oil blowing pasture.
II plOHed at all, it should be for. the .pur-
Poee - V'oPP'"S ~ue ou,''~''"B 'o' eV'u y,
Po'a'oes VI gan VI iooS ''oPs Auu 'uen
passes out Of the list of pasture land aud
becomes tillage land, and should be so
classed aud used. III the pasture is large,
and is 50 far away as to make it ht for pas.
turage only, you cannot plow it with profit
or advantage. For instance +; | have n fifty.
acre pasture, mile from my house--a hill
pasture ,ree lrolii o,asaes' wiz" naru,y t'ee
w H. II Is useless ior uio 70 Wy 70 p'o"
sHca pasture as 'nls' II ca""T' W 9one
anu l cou'u' l a'n no' SURF 'nrS ~ tu's -
the oest way 70 Improve W. mr luouiss 70
rignt when nc says tns na'nfa. g'asssS snouiu
DC Drought IN IL you eau 10 II; NoM 'nls
oauno' oe uonS w P'Vw'us' tou oAu 70.
'nen ou' py P'owlug' out you Iunugs ee'
lhem ~, for wnen you nave p'Uweu, ma na :
nureu ana seeuea' you nave only ,ne aI.in, I,ns
cia' grasses, sush as nefusgrAsS' VIM Hn'0a "a'u
S'oPPi"s' a"' 'v9e "i' s1o
and clover. which will not last more than
two or three years at the longest. And so
have seen small pasture lot plowed, ma.
nured and cropped and seeded to various
kinds of grasses, bat the crops were poor,
and the grasses which were seeded into it
did not come to much. 1t made poor pas.
ture, after all, and it never approached
being a good one until the natural grasses
had come in and driven the artificial grasses
out. have two pieces of land, several
miles away, which use for pasturage. One
of them has been cultivated for many years
| the other has never been cultivated at all.
The cultivated lot has, every year, the most
grass but the other has the best feed, and
my cat',e anu norsSs Always ,hr'yo oeS'
tnere' why 'n'S 49, cannot 'ei'' Du. 'no
cat'Ie know " anu Una. Is enough uo
not tnnk' therefore, Una. we eau ever expect &c
70 make goou pasture '"'iuS oy us'ag 'ne
Plow' ou l"ree svS'e, We oauno' snTle 70
40 "' "uu W = sna'' 1"o VIC 0nnuo' away
uePenu upon H. huu So l soPPese' We
must use 'oP'u,eSs'ngi auu use suoh as We
nuu "os' useiu' ior 'he lanu VIC "ou'u re-
S'0''
Now, for nae, plaster Is the best top.dress-
ing that can use / have used it freely
for thirty years and where | have used II
most my pastures are the best. do aot
think 1t works very well on light, sandy
soils, nor on grayelly kuolls but on all th'
clayey hills and springY lands on my farm
can use plaster with great benefit. 1t seem
TO warm and sweeten the land, aud bring
into it a great deal of white clover. Wherl
plaster does not answer, we must resort :,
something else, always remembering tha
top.dressing is the best thiHg TO do. LIE
me read what gentleman in Frapklir
county did with one of his pastures. H.
says: