Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-07-04
WILL 1As Rule AoInf


Under the heading, ITO XIII u Past
ure," The New York Times dlscourses
In this way: "rhe most effective method
Of preventing the growth Of plants Of all
kinds IL TO remove the leaves ~ last ~
they are formed. This is the way to kill
weeds most surely. The most vigorous
weeds cannot Withstand this loss OF
leaves, and the reason Il obvious to any
person who knows that nluety per cent,
and more In some cases, Of the substance
Of plants is drawn from the atmosphere,
and this only through the leaves. Con-
seQuently, to remove the leaves 40 they
appear Il the most effective way to stop
all manner Of vegetable growth. Now
let us apply this fundamental principle
Of plant life to q pasture. The grass
begins to grow early In the spring. IL
Il now making the fields green, the frat
weak yerdure Of the year. The farmer,
as soon as he sees the early herbsge, I'm
mediately turns on the stock to save the
hay. The sparse feed yielded by the
meadows IL gnswed down to the roots.
The little vital force remaining In the
herbage Il at once checked and the
growth Il arrested. The only chance
for the growth Il during the nights when
the cattle are brought In. The result Is
as plain as can be. The ability OF the
grass TO feed and take In lts atmospheric
nutriment Il destroyed aud Il stops
growing, or grows so slowly as to AFFORD
only a very deficient supply for the
stock. Many or most OF the plants
perish and weeds take their places.
Moss appears on the bare spots, and the
farmer wonders why II IL that the land
Il bare. The reason IL very simple and
plain, for II he wished to do the most he
could to kill the grass he could not do IL
more efiectuslly than to have II eaten
down before Il makes q sufficient growth
to feed ITSELF" This jumping at con-
clusions from one point Of observation
gets many people OF the track. Pasture
grasses and lawn grasses are not killed
by feeding OF or by frequent cutting.
Every man who cares for thrifty lawn
and mows Il once In two weeks through
the summer cuts more grass from u than
he would To let u mature and take u all
at one cutting. The leading object OF
the vegetable kingdom Is reproduction.
All plants aim to mature their seed, and
II fed of many Of them will start again,
and continue to struggle for years, that
would die just as soon as they matured
their seed. Winter rye will live and
make good pasture several years II IL is
fed down so that II cannot form Its
heads, vet Il IL dead when the seed ripens
the next summer after IL is sown.
Clover and timothy will often die as
soon as they are allowed to ripen, while
they live many years In pastures.
Plants like horseradish and rhubsrb and
asparagus are grown for the leaves and
stalks, which are cut as soon as they are
large enough to use, but the roots do
not die nor fail a. long as they are well
cultivated and msnured. And here u
the trouble. Exhaustion IL what Kills
our pastures. We are taking OF but put
nothing back, especially In dairy past.
ures. We sell milk aud stock, and
stable the cows at night, and put the
manure on the fields to grow more win
ter forage, and all that Is made In the
winter goes to the same place, and be-
cause the pasture will not feed half the
year, without manure, all the stock we
can feed from our fields the other half,
great deal Of mistaken ingenuity Is used
TO account for the failure.