The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-04-10
Care OF the Meadows.

A great deal of mischief may be done
by thoughtless pasturing of the mead
Ows in early spring. In haste TO pluck
the first frui S of the SUMS warmth and
the milder breezes of spring, by turning
the cattle out to pick scanty and
scarcely helpful mouthful of heritage, we
destroy the future growth without any
benefit. just as the thoughtless, eager
boy hastens to gather the first apples
from the tree, and suffers the pains and
penalties for his error, besides losing
the fruit which would be useful at its
time of maturity, so the equally
thOughtless farmer Injuries his cattle by
impairing their taste for dry food be-
fore he has any adequate supply of
grass; sometimes, too, reducing the
yield of milk by the immature heritage
and its unwholesomc effects, while he
greatly in ;ures the field by trampling
the soft soil and checking the growth of
the grass. 1t is common practice, but
one to be carefully avoided. The good
and careful farmer win never be driven
to make use of expedients of this kind
to fill out the feeling of his cattle.
Down in the mOws there will now be
uncovered the first cutting of hay,
sweet, tender and nutritious, and this
is the natural link which comes between
hay and grass, for it partakes of the
character of both. And this will keep
up the flow of milk and the decreasing
appetite of the cows for dry food until
the grass has become firm and well eS-
tablished. and the ground is dry and
solid and can bear the pressure of
hoOf without being pOached and trod-
den into muddy holes.
There will be time, too, to repair the
/
and fresh seeding where the grass has
run out, or to spread manure or fer.
filters on these bare spots. Our
climate is. not favorable to the peren-
NAL verdure of meadow. The cold
winter in many cases heaves the sod,
and lifts it wholly from the soil as il a
| knife had been passed under it. Ii
| this is not repaired before the ground
| dItes, and the roots pressed back into
| the soil and protected and nouriShed by
some manure, the grass dies and weeds
/ appear in its place On the other hand,
| the hot, scOrching sun burns the roots
| of the thin grass and leaves them dead
| in the soil. Through the winter the
| dead heritage decays, and in the spring
| the bare soil is seen. This requires re-
! pair by narrowing and new seeding,
| and of course while the new seed is
| taking root it will not bear tramping
| by cattle Again, meadows intended
| for hay should never be pastured; or, if
| this is hardly ever done, it should be in
| the fall, when too heavy aftermath
/ might become an obstacle to the
| mower the next season. Spring
| pasturing of moving land can not
| be defended or excused, and the
farmer tempted thereto by search
ty OF feed had better buy
| Ray or fodder to carry him through
| than burn his candle at both ends by
eating down the young growth of his
! hay crop. For this not only lessons its
| quantity, but it makes late moving and
a late recovery of the grass, which in a
dry season may not recover at all, but
perish bv the shock. The first rule OF
| the farmer should be everything to its
proper use,' and to pasture a hay
| meadow is as unwise as it would be to
pasture down field of corn in the vain
effort to make something more out of it
than nature intended. We can not beat
| nature in that way, and we can not
pasture n meadow in the spring and
| cut hay in the summer with economy
or profit. We too often make the mis-
! take of ignoring the fact that grass is a
crop and must be cared for as well and
thoumhtfuIly as any other crop. And
we suffer for every one Of our mistakes.
So, too, we frequently fail TO give the
| pastures the necessary annual repairing
by top dressing, new seeding, and an
occasional narrowing to freshen the
! grass; while we are too apt to turn the
stock on too soon, and we suffer from
| these miStakes.AN 7. Times.