The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-16

There is hardly more important sub
ject in the whole category of farm topics
than this matter of the care of the pas
ture, says the Practical Farmer.
For six months or more the stock
should get the greater part of it's living
from this portion of the farm, and the
better the condition of the pasture, the
better will be this living and greater the
growth and prOductiVeness of the stock
and at the same time the greater will
be the number of the cattle that can be
turned into the pasture. 1t is undeniabie
that there is not one pasture in ten in
the old farming states that carries
half the stock it is capable OF carrying,
and that, too in much better shape than
is possible now with the lesser number.
This condition in most cases is the result
of allowing bushes to grow at will in the
pasture land; to a sOd-bound condition
of the soil and to the very uneven char
acter of the surface, which in many
cases is thrown up into tussocks that
dry UP in hot weather and are thrown
about to the great disturbance of the
grass roots, by the fFosts of winter An
otlRr trouble with the average pasture
is the lack of fertility. 1t is cropped
year after year, and no adequate return
is made the soil in the way of fertilizing
material. 1t is high time for farmers
cattle at pasture fertiliZe the soil to
any great extent. The droppings are ali
in heaps destroying the grass for
wear or two under each heap, and fertiliZ-
ing in any case only the few inches under
the heaps. The grass that grows about
the edges of such piles is rarely touched
by cattle even in the second summer.
sheep are much better fertilizers of a
pasture than cattle, for their droppings
are spread about and soon washed into
the soil. To keep up the fertility of pas
lures cropped by cattle, the soil must
be fortified to some extent outside of the
droppings that fall upon it. But, first,
II is the part of wisdom to clear the
bushes off the land and to get the sur
face. if need. be, into some sort of con-
dition of smoOthness. / rarely go past
an old pasture, with its surface COW
cred with tussocks of earth and grass,
that | do not Just long to get into the
place with a pillow and cultivate ana
enjoy the satisfaction of clearing the
land and getting it into a condition of
comparative smoothness. Such work can
be done, a little ct a time, by fencing
off, in succession, various portions of the
pasture by light wire fence and putting
a days labor now and then on the fenced
portion when other work is not pressing.
In this way the rough pasture land can
in time and at no very great labor at
any one time, be got into a smooth con-
dition.
would secure all the wood ashes pos
sible and SOW them thickly on such land,
and when l had the old sod turned under
so as to secure it's rotting, 1 would get
the land seeded down to permanent pas
ture grasses, such grass seed coming now
ready mixed, and containing seeds OF
grasses that will give a succession Of green
growth from early spring till late autumn.
The trouble with most pasture sod is that
the grass is at its prime in June, and that
thereafter it is overripe and dried up. The
ideal sod is composed of grasses that
have their season distributed all along
through the summer, furnishing fresh,
green grass in August as well as in June.
This the permanent grass mixtures aim
to do In many localities ashes can be
bought up cheaply and an annual dress
ing given the pastures. / am convinced
that the dressing with regular fertilizers
would also be profitable. A small pasture
could thus be made to carry double the
amount of stock it now carries.
The watering place in pastures is far
too often only mud hole. If a spring
provides water for the pasture, it ought
not to be left open for the cattle to tramp
in it, and foul it with excrement, while
the sun pouring into it makes it unpaIa-