The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-06-23
COWS IN SUMMER.
Importance to the Dairyman of tht
Pasture Lot.

P9Sture Lot.
In sizing up the productive area OF
his farm for the season the dairyman
will perhaps find nc part of it more i'm
portant to his moneyed interests than
his pasture lot, writes George E. New
ell in the Boston Cultivator.
At the best it does not look as at
tractive as field of grain, but it's close
cropped surface may mean a better in
come to the square rod than so much
golden wheat. With all of the advance
that has been made in the raising of
soiling crops, which at the best are but
supplemental, dairy farm is made
profitable or improbable by the charac-
ter and extent of its pasture.
Many dairymen look on good pastures
as fortunate natural circumstances,
and if they have poor one consider
that it is their i'll luck, because nature
has not dealt as kindly by them as with
some neighbor.
They might not believe it if told that
a pasture could be made Or unmade by
mans influence upon it, but such l
firmly believe to be the case. | have
seen old, sterile, stony fields converted
in few years time into green, pro-
ductive pastures simply by the exercise
of brain working in unison with Drawn.
Then, again, I know Of thousands of
acres Of pasture land naturally good
and productive that are, as it were,
"hidebound" by a close sod which has
run out or holds in subsection the most
succulent grasses. Pastures of this
character can be greatly improved by q
vigorous narrowing with a sharp,
straight toothed drag. They should be
dragged in the early spring while the
ground is full of moisture and never
during dry spell.
When properly done and under moist
conditions, the rejuvenating effect is
wonderful, a stimulus to the growth OF
grass taking place that is remarkable to
the most careless observer
It works good in more ways than one
also, as to properly drag hidebound
field means that the sticks, stones, logs
and bushes must be first removed to
make the improvement possible.
Many unproductive pasture lots are
made so because they are covered with
rubbish and brush. The foreign growth
Of weeds and bushes draws the fertility
from the ground that should go to
nourish the grasses and is thoroughly
Improbable.
Suppose, now, that after planting a
field of corn you did not cultivate it
and allowed the weeds to grow up with
the grain, how much Of crop Of maize
do you think you would harvest?
IF dairymen would only regard the
grass that grows in their pastures in
the light OF a crop, the harvesting Of
which takes place in the milk pail, they
would pay as strict attention to this
neglected part Of the farm as they now
do to their corn and potato fields.
If your pasture has no shade, set out
a few trees in it judiciously this spring
and protect them by posts and Stats
from the rubbings of the cattle. Prob
ably in no other way could you observe
Arbor day as practically and we'll
Some years ago I noticed how an in
genious eastern farmer had taken a
unique way to reclaim pasture through
which creek flowed Like great deal
of our farm land, this was suffering
from the effects Of pernicioUs forest de-
struction at the head Of the stream that
bis6cted it.
When this farmer was a boy, the
water flowed steadily in this stream all
through the summer season, and, its
bed being shallow, the top strata Of
earth on either side absorbed moisture
therefrom and kept the field green.
Later, when the woodland above was
removed and the savage floods came
down in the springtime, they gouged
out a deep bed for the creek and over
spread the rich bottom land with gravel
and silt Then, when the creek fell
away in volume in midsummer, it flow
ed feebly over the bottom Of clay bed
ten feet deep, with the water SO far re-
moved from the upper strata that there
was no seepage Of moisture under the
grass roots. So there was no adequate
pasturage except in spring and fall
and thus it remained several years.
One day the farmer, reading how l.
rigation was conducted in the west,
went up this stream half mile and,
cutting out a ditch, brought the water
down to overflow his drought stricken
pasture whenever it needed it..
The result is that now the grass there
in midsummer is as green as ricefeld,
while the hill pastures are sere and
brown. From this and other instances
consider that irrigation in the east,
| as reserve expedient, has great posi-
bilities in it.