Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-04-14

4AcXoao40k PASTURE A600Js
The use of pasturage on the farms
in various portions of the Western
States is increasing gradually, and
there is no doubt but that the :atio of
increase will become larger every
year for some time to come. AS the
center of wheat production moves
West and North, the production of
beet, ork and mutton, but especially
OF the former. will assume larger pro-
portions. With this growth more
land will be devoted to pastures and
meadows. The subject of pasturage
and of meadow lands will necessarily
attract more attention among farm
ers than it has hitherto.
Men prominently engaged in rural
industries have often referred to the
magnitude and value of the grass
crop in this country. AS factor in
agriculture its Importance is gener-
ally overlooked. The grass crop
(says Hon. X. A. Willard) is will
out doubt one of the most, if not the
most, important known to agriculture.
True it is that but for grass agricul-
ture could not prosper, and as the
same high authority remarks, with
out 1T we should have no stock, no
manure, and scarcely any cultivated
crop. Being the natural food for
our most useful domestic animals, it
is the element of success in farm
pursuits, before which everything else
pales in comparison. Few persons
are aware of the money value of the
grass crop of this country. We shall
not stop to vex the reader with
serried columns of figures to show the
relative value of the great products
OF country for series of years.
Suffice it that the value of the grass
crop at a low estimate is not less
than S7OO,O0O,OOO annually.
One thing that readily suggests it.
self in the cultivation of the grasses
is, that different order of seeds is
required for pastures than is employ
ed for meadows. And another thing
to be remembered is that soils with
certain characteristics are better
adapted to certain seeds than to 9th
ers; or in other words. the plants
must be suited to the quality Of the
soil. Some require more moisture
than others; some thrive best in
clayey soils; others luxuriate in
loans, while others still delight in
calcareous soils. 1t is well for farm
ers to understand the nature of the
soils Of which their farms are COM
posed, for this is absolutely necessary
if they would know what grasses are
adapted to it.
Some grasses, like orchard grass,
accommodate themselves to varie-
ty of soils, but whatever the nature
of the soil throughout the West,
mixture may be selected for pasture
which will prove satisfactory.
A long recognized fact in laying
down grass lands will not be lost
sight of by practical farmer, and is
that different grasses thrive best in
company. They are SO to speak So
cial. 1t is well known that plants of
the same species in close proximity
do not do well for any length Of
time. However thick may the seed
ing, after couple of seasons many
plants will die out, and vacant places
vii! be left into which weeds and
spurious plants will grow; not so,
however, when y variety Of grasses
are sown together which are adapted
to the soil, and hence a mixture is
necessary to fill the requirements of a
tirst-class pasture. And this not on
ly proves beneficial to each variety,
but it also gives a succession of fresh
nutritious food from spring TIL fall.
One variety blossoms and comes to
its prime in May and June and with
ers in July, passing through the stag
es of woody fiber, and decays in Au-
gust. Meanwhile it is succeeded by
another, and another, and so on
throughout the season until the fall
frosts cut them down or SHOWS Of
winter set in and cover them. Thus
too, the earlier varieties shade and
shield the tender shoots and blades
of the latter varieties from the scorch-
ing rays of the sun, while the latter
perform the same kindly office for
roots of their predecessors.
For various soils as we have said,
different varieties are required, and
the farmer must be governed by that |
fact in seeding down for pasture, but
it is important that a goodly number
of different kinds shall be sown. AS
a rule, this number is less th9n
should be selected. In a majority of
cases the mixture of varieties recon-
mended by Mr.. Flint, in his valuable
work on grasses, may proiitably be
adopted. These are as follows, with
their quantities:
Sweet scented vernal, towering in April and Lbs.
May Observation-Disclosures. ......... ! |