Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-04-27
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The best paying crop the farmer can raise
is hay this, rs general rule. good grass
farm admits Of much and good stock, hence
a large amount of manure aud good crops Of
grain, corn and potatoes. It is an oft re.
peated maxim, that the farmer had better
buy than sell hay, meaning that selling hay
from the farm impoverishes it. So II does,
and in selling grain and potatoes twice as
rapidly. As general rule 1t is better to sell
hay than to use it upon the farm and then
sell tho crop it nourishes. One Of the pay
ing crops this year is hay, especially for the
farmers living near the city. The demand
for hay in our cities and the substitution Of
dairying and stock raising for other branches
Of farming in the best hay producing locali-
ties, has caused hay TO maintain a higher
proportionate price than many other farm
products. Hence hay is the best crop far
mers can raise under any circumstances, and
more especially when the situation favors
him, as near a market and good grass land.
In choosing a farm one of the chief requi.
sites should be portion adapted to the grow
ing of good quality of hay, without the H.
ability of soon running out" and involving
the necessity of re-seeding every few years.
A permanent meadow on farm is mine of
wealth that will pay better dividends than
some that purport to yield the precious met
ais. Much grass land that is not especially
moist, but dry enough to grow, when
ploughed, good crops of corn and grass may
be made to yield increasing crops for a term
of years, by top dressing. Experiments have
shown that none of our chief farm crops make
better returns for the use Of concentrated
commercial fertilizers than hay. OF these.
nitrate of soda is among the best as il has
been found that, on application to grass land,
it usually much more than repays its cost.
The tendency of the salt is downward and
enriches the ground deeply, causing the grass
to withstand drought. Chloride of sodium
or common salt, plaster, ashes, bone dust,
etc, can be used with profit, if judcously
Top dressing grass lands with stable manure
is being practiced by many farmers and with
good results, but it is a mistake to apply
coarse manure in the spring to your lands
We lately saw a field that had Just been now
ed and raked with q hcrse-rake where a top
dressing of green manure had been applied in
the spring; there was considerable straw with
the manure, and the manure, withal was some
what lumpy from not being sufficiently de-
composed, and the consequence was a large
part of the manure and straw was disturbed
by the rake teeth and mingled with the hay
The effects Of the manure upon the growth
Of the grass was very apparent and had the
manure been allowed to lay in the heap until
fall, and the rapid decomposition prevented
by forking over occasionally, the disagreed
BILE result of mixing the manure with the
hay would have been avoided. An adjoining
field upon which the latter method was prac-
ticed gave very favorable results Another
farmer l know of has used most of his ma
nure for several years upon his grass land,
cultivating but small area in grain, and get
ting his revenue from stock and hay his tes-
timony is that his farm has increased in pro-
ductiveness and pays better than before. -
Cor. IfirisfOU ,IOUy'HdL