Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-10-22
FARM MANAGEMENT.
A Very Valuable Grass that Is
Neglected. in Many Parts
Of the Country.
How Every Farmer Gan Have a Supply Of
Good Light Wine and Vinegar.
The Advantages Of Having an Enumeration
of the Pure Stock of the Country.
:.
Value OF Hcd-Top.


that designed for horses. With few
exceptions. owners OF horses kept in
towns will pay more for clear timothy
hay than for that made from any one
kind OF grass or for mixture of sew
eral kinds. AS timothy grass is easily
cured. the hay is not likely to become
musty in the stable or the stack. Farm
ers who make a practice of selling hay
prefer to raise timothy because it COM
mands the highest price in the market.
They also like it because it is easy to
cut. Timothy is easy to introduce on
almost any kind of soil providing it
has been under good cultivation for sew
eral years. In most parts of the coun-
try timothy seed will terminate and
produce good plants if sown in the
spring or fall. One is more likely to
secure a good stand by sowing timothy
than almost any of the grasses. Some
have called it the grass Of civilization.
1t certainly should be classed first
among the cultivated grasses, as it is
only very productive when growo on
land that has recently been under good
cultivation. Its tendency is to 'run
OUT as soon as the soll has lost much
of its fertility.
AS timothy is the fashionable grass
for moving fields, so blue grass is for
pastures. On soils Astounding in lime
and which are well drained there Is no
better pasture plant than blue grass.
All kinds of stock prefer it to almost
any sort of grass or clover. 1t pro-
duces small stocks, but a very large
amount Of foliage. 1t springs up early
sion of sweet green leaves till the snow
flies. 1t furnishes the winter pasturage
SO highly priced in Kentucky. Missouri,
and Illinois. BY keeping stock from a
blue grass pasture during the ordinary
growing season the stalks and leaves
form {. dense mass, OF which only the
surface is killed by the most severe
frosts Near the ground the grass re-
mains green all winter Blue grass is
very valuable for making meat. milk,
wool or fat 1t makes excellent hay,
although it is very difficult to cure it.
Once established in suitable soil, and
no subsequent seeding is required. The
sod will improve year by year. 1t u.s.
however, q somewhat difficult grass to
introduce. The seed is expensive, and
it is soWn with grain, as red clover and
timothy seed is, and if covered with q
harrow it will be buried too deep. If
sown and covered in the most approved
manner, several years will he required
to produce q good pasture sod.
A grass which is very valuable for
both pasturaGe and hay is neglected
in many parts of the country where it
would doubtless succeed. 1t is gener-
ally known as red-top, though it re-
ceivcs in various parts of the country
the names English bent-grass, fine
top, Burdens grass, and Hurd's grass.
1t is the practice of many farmers to
SOW the seed of this grass with that OF
timothy and red clover. The first year
after sowing there is a heavy growth
OF clover, which soon disappears. The
timothy produces good crop year or
two after the clover has died ont, and
from that time forward the rod top takes
possession of the ground. If the soil
is tolerabiy rich and moist, the growth
will be very luxuriant and the quality
of the grass excellent. If the soil is
poor and dry, the growth will be small
and the quality very inferior. The
grass is not adapted to hillsides or to
sandy and gravelly land, whatever may
be its elevation. II will be eaten by
all kinds of stock in the spring, but an
inlals will reject it later in the season.,
as the stalks become hard and wiry.
Grown on moderately moist land, which
is ordinarily quite rich. it is very pro-
ductive. and it is questionable if any
other kind of grass will furnish an
equal weight of green or dried fodder.
Like bluegrass, it produces a perma-
nent sod, which under favorable con.
ditions will continue to be more pro-
ductive year by year. 1t makes very
good winter pasturage, though it is not
equal to bluegrass for this purpose.
Red-top makes excellent hay for cat
tie, sheep, and all kinds of young stock,
though it is regarded as inferior to TIM
othy for work horses. It contains 9
larger portion of leaves than timothy
and retains the color of the grass better.
The grass is tolerably easy to cut but
somewhat difficult to cure, as 1t packs
close in the swath and windows. Il
spread with 4 fork or tedder, it will
cure very nicely. The hay is easy tt
pitch, and as it packs closely in the
stack or rick it sheds rain we'll and is
preserved without difficulty. II red-toI
hay is fed in a Manager having q tight
bottom, considerable seed can be savee
in the course of the winter, which car
be sown in the spring in such portions
OF the pasture as produce inferior grass
In most parts of the west and south
stable-keepers prefer clean timothy hay
During the past few years horse owners
in the east have shown decided pref
erence for mixture of timothy anc
red-top. They state it is more econom
ical to feed, as horses eat it cleaner
than they do clear timothy. Red-tol
hay can be pressed into 9 very comPac
pile, which is great advantage wher
it is to be transported long distances
In the vicinity Of this city red-top is 81
common that the seed is Self-sown IL
most fields, and naturally succeeds RET
clover and timothy. The grass IL Ger
tainly worth introducing into portions
been paid to II. s.#S
+ , Cheaper Than Cider. 7#s
Farmers living in portions Of the YES
where there are no apple orchards, O
where trees nre not e On age e pro
duce large crops Of fruit. often Wis'
i that they had few Sarrels of eide
they were accustomed q drink whel
] they lived ID their old hOsne il the cas-
and south. Quite likely they have !
good supply q grapes. Tor vines Il b.
become very plenty in most parts 9