Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-06-06
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.np-:vens.. 0. Pastures

L ut IA-luIt Iut%Alpu II bHt % NAt
most difficult the farmer has to meet.
FOR years, as rule, the fertility has
been removed from them; and in too
many instances, and on 100 many farms.
tae appearance of moss and bushes and
the fecbleness of the grass growth
give evidence that the process cannot be
carried much further. Just consider
the matter. For years the cattle have
left the pasture nightly, with their
stonachs loaded with food, and this
and the milk is left behind; and the one
day is a repet ltion of the other. The
Young stock are turned on the pasture
10 get their growth, and then thi.
growth is sold from the farm. For
wears there has been continual pro-
cess of carrying off, and not a single
Instance OF carrying on. Is il strange
that barrenness should creep during
the year on a field thus treated: IN
many, too many instances, barrenness
has come, until it at present seems q
public calamity through the gradual
abandonment OF large areas. II cattle
are kept from the pasture % as o allow
through a species of fallow, the natural
fertility OF tie land TO return, then
weeds and bushes spring up-a source
OF vexation and future expense. We
have now come TO the question Of what
can We do: aud We can see but two
answers that seem reasonable. Either
the pastures which are too far exhaust
ell to yield sufficient profit must be
abandoned 10 the forest-and here
claims for forestry-or else the pastures
must receive that treatment which
hall improve them 30 that thew shall
soon yield return, aud ultimately a
profit.
We cannot usually plow and fer,ilize
and reseed pastures, for various reasons,
among the most prominent of which
are the roughness of the land, the
steepness OF the slopes, and the tread
isg Of the cattle. Ii the sod is once
destroy ed, the rains have q tendency 10
wash the soil down the slopes, together
with the seed. while the treading of
the cattle binders the quick formation
Of firm sod /; and weeds come in and
increase. Certainly it is only where
the pasture fields come within a system
OF rotation that we can be justified il
breaking mp an established sod; or those
few instances where the state oil the
surface is SO bad already that we need
have no hesitation as to any process of
ours making it worse-provided, al
ways, improvement can be made in a
more economical way.
The fundamental difficulty Of pasture
improvement is with ourselves. We
know not the real value OF an acre of
pasture to Us in dollars aud cents, and
caLnot make up our mind as TO what
definite outlay We can be justified in
making for lis amelioration. The pro-
duct OF an acre Of pasture is not in a
single crop which We can take of and
weigh and value, but consists of series
OF crops which are harvested by the
animals each day of the season Hence, il
we apply fertilizer, We cannot measure
the good it has done, ia way that i.
sufficiently strikinggo produce the i'm.
preston that it has paid. If by apply.
ing bone-dust 10 pasture We obtain a
ton OF extra growth the first year, and
five suppose that the harvesting of thi.
ton is going on during each one of one
hundred days, then the two Thousand
pounds divided by one hundred day,
gives but twenty pounds day per acre
"a quantity evidently too small for u.
to appreciate. There can be no question
but that pas lures can be improved BY
the application OF plant food; the only
question is, can we make ourself be.
lieve it?
Let MS suppose an ordinary New
England pasture, worn out, Astounding
with moss and rock, The turf firm and
close, the grass grazed to the roots and
brown with drought during the dry
season. How can it be improved
First, an admirable way is TO secure
flock Of sheep, and overstocking The
pasture, feed literally of outside pro
ducts, such ss cotton seed. wheat bran
de-, The food furnishes an increase il
tat which will sell, an increase in WOO
which will sell, while the sheep dis
tribute their dung, which is in an es
pecially avsiisble form. over the gromd
they wander over. When sheep hus.
bandry is not advisable. than The same
process may be followed with cattle
keeping them in the pasture night and
day, and feeding literally with outside
material as in the case Of the sheep. A
flock OF hens KEPT in the pasture will
scratch over and distribute their dung
as i: falls, 50 that in general there is nc
waste. We here reverse the process
which has been notwithstanding on
instead Of carrying of. In both these
methods, sheep and cattle, we are not
approaching the cost, because We seem