The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-06-20
Improving Pastures.

Improving Pastures.
What shall be done to keep up the fertili-
ty and productiveness of our pastures? is
question that is trying and taxing the men
tai powers of many thousands of New Eng
land farmers at the present time. Fifty
years ago the pastures on most of our farms
were the mainstay for the maintenance and
growth of Stock and for the production of
beef, and what milk butter, and cheese the
limited market at that time demanded. The
object in wintering cattle was seldom other
than to keep them through till another sum-
mer, just as cheaply as possible. If cattle
came out at the end of the winter so poor
and weak they could hardly stand alone, it
was not considered very serious matter,
for run of a few weeks in the luxuriant
pastures, which were the rule rather than
the exception in those days, brought the an
finals up again into fine condition. June
was then the great butter month of the wear,
as most of the butter sold was made before
the hot weather of July and August came
on. Then the cheese press was brushed up,
and, for few weeks, business was lively in
the dairy rooms.
When the cool September and October
days arrived, and the cows were turned on
the moving field, the farmers wives took
that time to lay down supply of butter for
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the long Winter, and until butter could be
made again from June feed. Ninety cows
in every hundred came in April, and it was
considered misfortune that the other ten
came at any other season. May was the
great veal month; many families both in the
country and in the large towns, living up
on it almost exclusively as their animal food
for several weeks at that season. But now
with an increased demand for the dairy pro-
ducts and more uniform market through
the entire year for milk and for fresh butter,
we find the dairy interest very greatly in
creased, so that instead of few weeks of
over supply of dairy products, followed by
long season of quiet and inactivity, there is
now demand which affords thousands of
dairy farmers steady, if not profitable
market at all times. With this change in
the public demand has come a change in the
requirements at the dairy farm.
AS milk must be furnished now in nearly
uniform quantities, the whole year through,
and as individual cows cannot give the same
amount at all times, it becomes necessary
for milk farmers to keep more than one set
of cows, and to have them come in milk at
various times other than in Spring, as for
merly. An increase of stock and better
feeding means better farming generally, and
we find that the dairy farmers of to-day are
better farmers than were their fathers and
grandfathers. Our ancestors fed their ca It
tie very largely upon the spontaneous growth
of the soil, and with the least possible out
lay of manual labor. We find the soil is now
exhausted and that it will no longer pro-
duce crops as formerly. The cultivated
fields which receive dressings of stable ma
nure, and the river valleys which are annu-
ally overfowed, still yield fair returns, but
the old hill pastures which have been
cropped for three generations without ma.
nuring or culture, have become about used
up, and many thousands of acres have been
abandoned to forest growth. In many
cases this is the best plan that can be adopt
ed. Many of these rough, rocky pastures
should never have been cleared of
the original growth, and the sooner they
are again covered by trees, the better for
both the land and the owners 80. a
In our own farm practice we have, for
several years, made but little dependence
upon pasture feed for our dairy stock. Old
rocky pastures have been allowed to- grow
up to wood, and forest growth has been en-
couraged upon thin, sandy land by plough
ing burrows few feet apart, to catch the
seeds of birches and pines, as they are
blown over the fields from adjoining lands.
Good pastures have been cleared and put
into moving and tillage, and the stock
which formerly roamed over many acres, is
now fed at the stalls from the greater pros
duct of the few well cultivated and more
productive acres. A sytem which is profit
able for us must, also, be profitable for 9TH
ers to greater or less degree. We have
practiced soiling cows until we are free to
recommend the system to others who may
be in need of something better than the
scanty growth of old, run out pastures
Few farmers can realize, until they try it,
how much fodder can be produced upon an
acre by a system of high culture. The av-
erage yield of hay through the country, is
not over one ton per acre, probably less, yet
it would be an easy matter to make it three,
and even more in favorable seasons, by high
manuring and successive cuttings.
We have looked into this subject of fur
nishing food for stock with no small degree
of interest, and we are quite sure that soil
ing should be made the stepping stone TO-
ward better system of daily practice.
We are not sure but the time may come
when cattle will be fed only at the stable,
but we are not ready to adopt such system
in full as yet. There is great deal of land
which is too rough and rocky to cultivate
exclusively with hoed or forage crops. The
grass growing upon many of our steep hill
sides can be harvested by cattle cheaper than
in any other way, especially by dry cows,
beef animals and young growing stock.
Our method of getting from the present
system OF pasturing to a better would be,
first, to abandon all the rougher portions to
forest tree culture, then to select the level
and easy working land for ploughing and
the growing of soiling crops. The lands be-
tween these two extremes we would keep in
permanent pasture. From the tillage land
we would raise at first all or nearly all the
fodder required for the dairy stock, keeping
the animals in the barn or yard while
being SO fed, that the manure may all be
saved, to be returned to the land cultivated.
The cattle should run in the pasture only at
such times as it would afford them good
feed, or such pasture should be reserved for
young cattle or dry cows.
Good land under such system should
improve from year to year, especially if grain
is purchased for feeding or commercial fer
tilizers are used to greater or less extent.
Having by high farming under the selling
system brought the smooth, rich land up to
high state OF fertility, we would then take
hold of the better grade of pasture. There
are several methods of improving these. In
some sections gypsum (plaster Paris) is the
cheapest renoyator for an old pasture that
can be used. A few hundred pounds per
acre spread evenly will often bring up a
luxuriant growth Of white clover, and other
grasses. Where this is the case, it should
NC uoCu AiCCly 81 July do iGS cIlcCGS iTc IdVOr-
able. In other localities, wood ashes or fine
bone, though more costly, will really be
cheaper fertilizers. Plaster does not affect
all soils alike, but there are very few that
are not improved by ground bone, though
the effect may not be very marked the first
year. Bone requires time to decay before it
can become the food of plants. Giving up
pasture entirely to sheep for couple of
years, feeding them some grain daily, has
been found an excellent practice in many
cases. Sheep eat and destroy certain bushes
and weeds that cattle would refuse, and
thus give more room for the grass to spread
over the surface. 80
Ifthe land is naturally good, but the sod
has been destroyed by overlooking, dry
weather or worms, it may pay to scratch
the surface with a sharp-toothed harrow,
sowing seed, and perhaps some kind of fer
tilizer at the same time. In this case, cattle
should be kept out for while till the young
grass gets we'll established. The best pas
ture land is often too rocky to be treated in
this way. When pasturing brings good
price it may sometimes pay to dig even by
hand labor good land that is too rocky to
work with teams. 1t is generally better and
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