The Portland daily press., 1878-05-21
AGRICULTURAL.
Improvement of Pastures.

Improvement of Pastures.
The pasture question is one of the 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 too
many farms, the appearance of moss and
bushes and the feebleness of the grass growth
give evidence that the process cannot be car
ried much further. just consider the mat
ter. For years the cattle have left the pas
ture nightly, with their stomachs loaded
with food, and this and the milk is left be-
hind; and the one day is a repetition of the
other. The young stock are turned on the
pasture to get their growth, and then this
growth is sold from the farm. For years
there has been continual process of carry
ing OF, and not single instance of carrying
on. Is it strange that barrenness should
creep during the years on field thus treat
ed? In many, too many instances, barren
ness has come, until it at present seems a
public calamity through the gradual aban.
donment OF large areas. If cattle are Kept
from the pasture so as to allow, through a
species of fallow, the natural fertility of the
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? and we can see but two answers
that seem reasonable. Either the pastures
which are too far exhausted to yield suffi-
Gent profit must be abandoned to the forest
and here comes in the present interest in
and claims for forestry-or else the pastures
must receive that treatment which shall i'm
prove them SO that they shall soon yield a
return, and ultimately profit.
We cannot usually pillow and fertilize and
.Sseeu pao.u,os, III se,l1aS ioasohs' anohs
sne nSS az snrd tho VI s,aa ae H. sIosos
us y. ' ."S .e opuos' UI slo SoPs; :;
anu ' at treau al y, VIC oaSso. IL .ae SUI -
UmeJ as sc;, d VIC t .SiuS nase .euoy w
Masn sne sui uown .ne Slopes, togetneI WIZ
sne seeu' wnle sne IIeaalDg VI ene cattie nin,
oers .ne qulck iormaIion Oh nrm sod; anu
Weeos Some III anu increase. certainly IL Is
only where the pasture fields come within
system OF ROTATION mat we can De Justlned 10
breaking up an established sod; or those. lew
instances wnere the state OF the surface IS sc
PAD ALREADY That we need nave no hesitation
as 10 any process OF ours making 1t worse
PROVIDED, Always, Improvement can DE made
III more economcai way;
Inc iundamentai dimculty OF pasture I'm.
provement is Win ourselves. We know moi
Tue real vaiue Oh an acre Oh pasture 10 us 10
doliars and cents, and cannot make up our
mind as 10 what dennlte outlay we can be
1ustlned IN making Tor its amelioration. The
product OF an acre OF pasture Is not in sim
gle 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, in a
way that is sufficiently striking to produce
the impression that 1t has paid. Ii by apply
ing bone-dust to a pasture we obtain ton oil
extra growth the frst year, and IT we suppose
tnat the harvesting OF this ton is going on
during each one OF one hundred days, then
the two thousand pounds divided by one
hundred days gives but twenty pounds a
day per acre-a quantity evidently too small
for us to appreciate. There can be no ques
tlon but that pastures can be improved
py tne applcatlon OF plant food; the
only question Is, can we make ourselves be-
heye it1
Let US suppose an ordinary New England
pasture, worn out, Astounding with moss and
rock, the turf hrm and close, the grass grazed
10 the roots and brown with drought during
Ine ory season. How can 1t be improved
FIRST, an admirable way IS to secure HOOK o.
sneep, and overstocklng the pasture, Iced I'D
orally OF OUTSIDE products. such as cotton seed
wheat bran, &c. Inc food furnishes an In
crease 10 rat which Will sell, an increase In WOO
Wnicn VIII sell, WINE Inc sneeP distribute
their dung, which is IN an especially available
IoIm, over Inc ground tney wander over.
Mhen sheep husbandry is not advisable ,sthen
tne same process may pe followed with cat,
ue, keePlng tnem IN tne pasture night ano
Gay, and feeding literally with outside mate