The Portland daily press., 1880-10-13
AGRICULTURAL
How to Improve Pastures.

HOW TO improve fdSCureS.
1t needs hardly moments thought to
convince any one that the pasture is the
most important part of the stock farm. Be
it dairy farm, one devoted to sheep hus-
bandry or to carrying general farm stock
of young and old cattle, the pasture is OF
first importance. A farmers wealth, msre
especially in the former times, was often
reckoned by the amount of grazing land
which he possessed and the head OF cattle
his farm would thus carry. For it mutt not
be overlooked that pastures give to our
young stock, all through the country, the
greatest gain of the year and at the least
outlay. In winter, no remark is more com
mon than that if cattle ''hold their own
that is if they do notshrink, they are doing
fairly, and dependence is placed upon the
summer pastures to put on flesh, make but
ter and cheese, bone and growth, and bring
the animals to the barn in the fall in an i'm
proved condition. And they do it. Neg
lected and run out, and moss grown, and
covered with weeds as most of our pastures
are, they can still be depended on to put
growth and flesh upon young animals, make
good return from dairy cows, cover the
sheep with wool, and line the insides of ear
ly lambs with a choice marbling of fat and
lean.
Throughout New England the outlying
pastures of a majority Of the farms at pres
ent consists of the old swards made from
the first clearings. Where good, they are
very good yet, with a rich growth of fine
grasses, and yielding sweet heritage. But
sometimes. for want of sufficient drainage,
or an abundance of rocks, or the encroach-
ments of bushes and brakes from some adj
jacent woodslde, these pastures have be-
come neglected and bound out and unpro-
ductive, and are, in fact, in great lneedlof
thorough renovation. They have been fed,
too, for generations. Why, it is estimated
by some writers that it takes an average OF
eight acres of our New England pasturage
to support COW for the season, and that
she comes to the barn at night with disap-
pointed look in her wild eyes and breads to
be MIXED. Eight acres! What are we
coming to if this be true? If it is indeed
true, and if it brings us to thorough sys-
TEN of renovating our old hillside and out
of-the-way pastures, perhaps it will be
good thing.
Are such pastures as these beyond i'm
provement? Certainly they are not. The
instances are numerous among good prac-
tice in farm management where such pas
lures have been put in good condition by
simple means. Simple, it is true, and yet it
requires work. Surplus water must be TAX
en- out of the soil, and it will pay even to
drain pastures, if they need draining. The
bushes, and hardhacks and briers must be
cut away that the grass may have chance
to grow, and the sun an opportunity to
sweeten it as it is growing. Then if leached
ashes can be obtained, the finishing stroke
to this improvement will be liberal top
dressing of leached ashes. 1t will kill out
the moss and cause the sweet and nutritious
grasses to grow with increased vigor:
Where leached ashes cannot be obtained
readily, Professor Stockbridge recommends
an application of the following materials:
Sulphate of ammonia, 100 pounds; muriate
of potash, 70 pounds; a good super phos-
plate of lime 100 pounds, applied per acre.
In many cases such pastures may be inn
proved by scarifying the surface and seeding
in September with mixture of grasses and
clovers. A system of pasture Improvement
that will embrace these simple features will
bring the carrying capacity of our old eight
acre-per-cnw pasture up to point whsre,
in less than three years time three acres
will be sufficient to keep cow-possibly
less. This kind of work should be pushed
vigorously during the present fall, for it is a
permanent improvement that is sure to pay.
Mass. Ploughman.