The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-20
8be Tarn1.
GRASSES FOR THE SOUTH AND
HOwTO CUL '1VATE THEM
An Essay Read Before the S"uth
Carolina Agricultural and Me-
chanical Society and State
Grange by D.. P. Duncan
ESQ Of Union County.
C00finued from last reek..

fed all the barley green but about an acre
and a quarter, which thrashed out twenty
five bushels. For three years the patch was
kept in clover, receiving once a top dress
ing of plaster and one Of acid phosphate.
The first crop each year of clover hay aver
aged two large wagon loads per acre. As
soon as the second crop began to seed the
hogs were allowed to run at will on 1t until
heavy frost. In September, 1876. the clo-
yer sod was turned with a two horse plough,
ploughed again with small ploughs; $50
bushels of cotton seed that had been killed
bv being kept a few weeks in the stables
was applied, and the patch again sowed in
barley. 1t was fed the same way, and about
the same amount of lane thrashed out
fifty bushels and Il fraction. Die the clover
make the difference?
My experience as to time o! sowing is
that September is our month. | have tried
several times sowing in the spring. In Feb
ruary of 1876 | sowed clover on Il field of
twenty acres that had been sowed the fall
before. or rather, l should say, the winter,
for it had been in cotton and oats. The
books said SOW just after a rain or during a
light shower. 1t had been raining for
about a week or more, and one evening af-
ter hard shower, that l thought to be 1.-THE
clearing off One,'I took a patent sOwer
anu puC uOWh lhy LII " Oil hOuA
there came what you call a trash-mover,
and l don't think it could have been many
DAYS before my clover seed were listening
to what the wild waves are SAYING" for
all of a stand saved out of twenty was
about an acre, which was sort of basin like
spot, the rest being just rolling enough to
wash in a heavy rain.
I'd. My experience as a graZer is rather
different from what [ have heard from 9TH
ers. For hogs, if there is orchard grass
with it, 1 think there is nothing better than
clover. [ have raised hogs that netted two
hundred and fifty pounds that were reised
nine months out of the twelve on clover and
orchard grass entirely.
Some three years ago, l found myself, af-
ter many clark days and darker morrows,"
living by myself, and you know things will
get ''mixed' when there is nobody around
but a man. Very often the news from the
milk department was, ''L;ttle Joe dun let
de caf git wild de COW, and he dun suck all
de milk" Or in the morning the dispatch
would be, '.Dey amt no milk dis mornin',
some niger left dem 'cuppen' bars down
last night; if faint dat dey den jumped de
fence, just like Mars Haygood say in his
essay, he know dat COW gwine do Of
course, being one Of these ''sons Of the
"soii,' who has such a quiet, easy country
life to lead, so far away from the worlds
troubles and veXations, | therefore did not
loose my temper at all, but said mildly to
my mixer, you turn all those COWS down in
the pasture with the dry cattle but the one
with the Youngest calf, and put her every
morning in that clover patch for about two
hours, and the same thing in the afternoon.
In a short time l had more milk and butter
from the one cow attended to than | was
getting from the eight neglected ones, and
every visitor | had complimented me on my
milk, &c.
But [ will close this part of my subject
with a statement from better authority.
Arthur Young, who is considered the faith
er of improved farming in Old England,
states that he pastured sixty-four swine of
various sizes on two acres of clover ground,
and they did we'll.
DIR. Deanc, the head of improved farming
in New England, says: II suppose that one
acre of rich land in clover will support
twenty or more hogs, large and small to-
gether, throughout the summer, and bring
them forward in their growth,
By all means have a clover patch. In my
South is orchard grass. l believe [ am an
enthusiast about the grass, and before l say
anything of my own knowledge about it.
let me, as the lawyers would say, give you
some of the authorities. These could be
multiplied indefinitely, but I will give you
one from John Washington, of Virginia, in
the Southern Planter and Farmer:
After expressing to some length his sur
prise at Virginia farmers not raising more
hay, instead of saving fodder, he comes to
speak of orchard grass, and says: Take for
example an acre of and the coming spring
that will produce three to four barrels of
corn, plough it deep, manure it with good
manure of any kind, seed on it from three
quarters to one bushel of oats, this quantity
will shade the grass and not crowd,) put
ting them in nicely, then seed on the fresh
surface one bushel of orchard grass and one
gallon of clover seed pass over the surface
with a light harrow or brush, and roll it with
a roller or log of wood, and then let it
if you can afford it, let the oats fall as
an improver to both land and grass. After
he oats are harvested SEQ that nOth:nr