The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-05-19
Two Dollars a Year.
Grasses for the Dairy.

! At the last meeting Of the W estern
Reserve Ohio Dairymen's Association,
the subject of grasses was discussed. Col.
Harris being called upon said he would
talk little while, and hoped that while
he was talking others would be thinking,
so that he might be corrected in what he
was wrong, and confirmed in what he
was right.
Cows must have grass 'All flesh is
grass" j.. E., COW flesh. The keeping up
of the grass crop is very important
question to dairymen, and is becoming
yearly more and more So In the dairy
region of Ashtabula county, he had heard
it said nearly forty years ago, that cows
could not return the elements of fertility
which they took from the soil. So when
the business of wool growing became
profitable, many farmers changed from
cows to sheep, with manifest benefit to
their farms. When wool growing became
Improbable, sheep gave way to cows
and now dairying IS the principal business
Of all this region of Western Reserve,
and it becomes a matter of deepest con
Germ how we are TO keep up the fertility
of our farms for the production OF grass
and hay. The practice is too common Of
bringing cows from the West and else
where in the spring, and OF sendiug them
off and disposing of them one way or an
other in the fall The natural conse-
quence is, over-stocked farms in summer,
and under-stocked farms in winter.
Here is a grand mistake. 1t il land
piracy, so to speak. There may be
money in it now, but it will bring ruin
by and by. There must be pasture and
meadow, and they should be SO equalized
that the manure in the spring will com
pensate for the exhaustion of the soil in
summer.
1t has been too much the custom to de-
pend upon timothy alone for hay. There
is no better crop than timothy when the
circumstances are all favorable, but it
is dangerous crop to depend upon.
The roots are so much exposed that in a
dry time, upon land that is hard run, the
crop receives back-set from which it will
scarcely recover. What is needed is,
mixture with the finer fbrous-rooted grass
es: then the bulbs of the timothy will be
protected. If it is sown with clover, and
the clover has the ascendency, it will kill
the grass Clover is a great grass killer.
Close shaving with the scythe and close
pasturing, will not answer with timothy,
for timothy will not suffer much abuse !
There should be sufficient variety of
grasses to take full possession Of the soil, !
end make good and strong sod.
Kentucky blue grass, or June grass,
with orchard grass, make good mixture
for pasture, but not for meadow, rs they
do not mature at the same time. Red !
clover and orchard grass go well together
as to time of ripening for hay. Some |
say they do not like orchard grass, be- !
cause it goes into punches, leaving barren !
spaces between. When it operates in !
that way, it is because Of want of fertil- |
ity in the soil.
Farmers should realize that acres are
not the measure of profit. Profit is
measured by what those acres produce,
and what is saved from them. If farms
are stocked up in the spring to their full
capacity, and the stock is sold off in the
fall, a considerable number Of dollars
may be handled but the farmer will
discover that it is not the money handled
that gives wealth, but it is the money
saved. 1t is unfortunate, but neverthe-
less true, that many dairy farmers reside
upon their exhausted farms, 20 the rounds
of buying stock of cows in the spring,
selling them off in the fall, eat up in
winter all they made in summer, and are
always in straitened circumstances.
AS a green crop for soiing early in the
season, rye comes in first; but some
farmers say that rye is not good feed for
mich cows-that they fall off in their
yield of milk as soon as they begin to
feed on green rye. He was not enough
of scientist to explain why this should
be so, but he had heard it affirmed by
farmers who had tried it. The earliest
and best grass feed for soiling is orchard
grass, and this will do to use till red
clover is ready. Red clover will last
until sowed corn is large enough TO use,
and then you are safe. Hungarian grass
is good crop for green feed, and also
for hay, as it can be sown late in the
spring, upon land where oats or other
crops have failed; or when it is apparent
that there will be short crop Of peren-
NAL grasses.
In the matter Of making hay, the
speaker said that farmers were apt to be
too careless in curing it nicely and keep
ing it from getting wet. Hay that Is
made Just right is as fragrant as choice
tea and farmers cannot afford to make
it any other way tnan just right. Grass
should never be cut when it will be
rained on, and partly cured hay should
not be exposed, even TO nights dew,
while spread over the ground. Grass
cuts easier when it is wet with dew or
rain, and this is often a temptation to
90 into the meadow when the farmer had
better be asleep than to spoil his hay.