Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-07-25
About Meadows and Hay.

think more labor 10 lost In raising
ipoor crops Of hay than In raising poor
crops of any kind OF grain. Go where
you will with observant eyes, and you
will see on the same farm, perhaps, good
fields of growing grain and poor mead.
ows, the grass being thin and short and
lintermixed and choked to death with
yellow daisies and white weed. The
reason of this is not hard to find.
"Corn is king" the Caesar OF the farm,
and Caesar gets the tribute.
The late George N. Clark, OF Connectl'
cut, who raised enormous crops OF hay
an acre, proved conclusively that the
liberal use of both stable manure and
conn mmercial fertilizers was needed to
produce great yields Of grass and that
heavy fertilization was profitable. top
dressed half meadow that was failing
fast with good stable manure, and it not
only doubled the yield OF grass on that
part but improved the quality OF the
hay. A neighbor who seeded an old
garden that had been literally manured
and cultivated for forty years and was
as rich as guano island and full of hu-
mus raised heavy crop Of grass on 1t in q
drouthy season, when old meadows gen.
orally were hardly worth cutting.
The great value of dung for raising
farm crops and fruit trees has been
known and appreciated since the earliest
ages and in New Testament times. The
keeper of the vineyard said: "Lord, let
it alone [the barren fig tree] this year
also, till shall dig about 1t and dung
It,"
"Ths constant exhaustion Of the SOIL"
says an ancient English writer, "de-
mands a periodical nourishment, and
this is best done by keeping live ami
mails" "Farmyard manure" says "The
Library of Universal Knowledge" ICON.
tains all the elements of plants, and
without its use in ordinary circum.
stances the fertility Of the land would
rapidly depreciate." "Hale's Husban-
dry" published in 1853, says: "The
world has been sensible to the use OF
manures at all times. and it is to the
farmers interest to continue the use OF
them and not neglect them for any other
practice"
There is no question about the value
Of the dung of animals for raising grain
and grass; the only trouble is We seldom
have enough of it, and must look to
other sources for an additional supply of
the needed plant food. Probably nine
farmers out of ten in seeding field for
a meadow do not put on seed enough.
have sometimes made the mistake my
self when clover seed was 80 q bushel.
1t was hoped that the plants would soon
spread and cover the ground. On the
contrary, before the plants had time to
spread, If they ever would, the noxious
weeds took possession Of the vacant
spaces and were bound to "hold the
fort" George NJ. Clark practised
neavy seeding, and his favorite grasses
were timothy and red top mixed in about
equal proportions. He says: 81 SOW
fourteen quarts OF each kind of seed to
the acre, and no other seed should ever
be sown with them" He found that
when mixed they produced one and
half tons of hay an acre more than when
each was sown separately.
From my own experience and the testi-
mony of others am of the opinion that
to make the best meadows the land
should be ploughed and narrowed until
the soil was made very fine and mellow;
that a liberal quantity of seed should be
sown, and no misnamed "nurse crop"
grown with it to struggle for The same
required for the grass
plants.-J. NJ. Ingham, Sugar Run,
Penn, in Tribune Farmer.