Page images
PDF
EPUB

It is doubtful whether any general rule can be adopted for the increase or improvement of lands devoted to grazing. The variety of tracts used for such a purpose, creates the necessity for a great variety of treatment; and the question is not so much how can pastures be cultivated, as how can they be cultivated to a profit. It is estimated that four acres of land are required for the pasturage of a cow; and it is probable that in their present condition nearly twice that number are necessary. The price of such land is about twenty dollars per acre. An acre which will serve the purpose of four, should be considered to be worth as much as four. How, then, can the farmer make twenty dollars' worth of land yield as much as eighty dollars' worth? How can he improve, moreover, the quality of his pasture grasses? And how can he economically provide himself with good luxuriant grazing, upon which he can rely during the entire season?

There is no doubt that, as a general thing, the cattle of Essex County obtain a somewhat scanty supply of food from the pastures. Brambles, and bushes, and weeds, and mosses, occupy a very considerable portion of the land called pasture, and are constantly encroaching upon that which is free from this burthen. In the smooth pastures, the grass is short on account of over-stocking, and, in many instances, not nutritious on account of deficient cultivation or entire neglect. We have but little land like that in newly settled countries, where the clearing of a forest is followed by a luxuriant growth of sweet grasses; and hence our business is chiefly with lands which must be restored from decay.

The application of various substances, such as ashes, lime, plaster, bones, &c., as a top-dressing for exhausted pasture lands, has been tried and discussed, until its merits seem to be pretty thoroughly understood. Wherever land is in a suitable condition to receive either of these fertilizers, great benefit arises from a judicious use.

On old worn out pastures, however, something more is evidently necessary; especially where the soil is so far exhausted

as to be incapable of restoration by rest, and where bushes have obtained the mastery. In such a case as this, resort must be had to the axe and bush-hook, to fire, the plough, manure and seeding.

How far the clearing, ploughing and seeding of pastures can be carried with profit, each farmer must judge for himself. In one or two instances, the experiment has been carried to a considerable extent in this county. A large tract of comparatively level land lying on the Merrimac river has been cleared of bushes, ploughed, and allowed to lie fallow one year. It has then been cross-ploughed, harrowed and seeded with rye and grass. In this case, the value of the land for grazing purposes has been largely increased. In the eastern part of the county, a hill-side pasture has been treated in the same manner; with what success we are unable to learn. It is possible that many acres of land now wholly unproductive, could be brought, by this process, into valuable pastures, without great expense, provided that the work is done in the intervals of more pressing duties during the season. The precise cost cannot be estimated-inasmuch as it would depend very much on the location of the land, and the time occupied in ploughing and fallowing. It is very desirable that some practical farmer should make an accurate return of the expense incurred per acre by this process. If it can be done advantageously, what a vast benefit would be the reclaiming of a few acres each year, on most of our farms. At any rate, we trust the time will soon come when every farmer who prides himself on his corn and hay crops, will learn that a growth of birches, bushes and briars on his pastures cannot belong to any good system of farming.

But one experiment in improving land was brought before the Committee; and this is of a somewhat novel character. It consists of the clearing of old pasture land for the purpose of orcharding-and although it does not come under the question. which we have referred to, still it is entitled to careful attention. The experiment was made by Oliver P. Killam of Boxford, and we give his statement in his own words:

STATEMENT OF MR. KILLAM.

The piece of land I offer for premium is one side of a lot containing ten or twelve acres. The part I cleared was covered. originally with whortleberries, sweet fern and briars, interspersed with small oaks, wild cherry, thorn bushes and birches. In the spring of 1849, I commenced setting apple trees on one side, one and one-half rods apart; set over about one-half an acre. The next spring I set out others; and in 1851, I finished setting over the piece I have cleared.

My manner of setting the trees is as follows:-First, I moved the bushes wherever I intended to set a tree. Then cutting away the roots with an axe, I dug the holes eight feet in diameter and from one to one and a half feet deep. I usually dug the holes the year before planting the trees. When I set the trees, I pounded the sods, and picked out the roots, replacing the soil in the hole, and taking care to set the tree the same depth that it stood in the nursery. I then placed fine soil round the roots, and replaced the contents of the hole. The trees were manured and mulched; and they grew well for three or four years.

At this time the trees began to show signs of blight, which were not removed by digging about them; and I consequently determined to clear all the land between the trees. I commenced this in 1857, in the following manner:

First I mowed the bushes, dug up the roots, and burned them. Then I dug out and cleared off the stones. I then ploughed it, removing all the stones and roots exposed to view, and harrowed it thoroughly.

The expense of clearing the first half acre was:

For one man 1 1-2 days mowing bushes,

$1.50

Two men and four oxen one-half day pulling bushes

and roots,

2.00

Two men and one yoke of oxen one day clearing stones, 300

[blocks in formation]

After it was cleared, I planted it with potatoes and corn.

[blocks in formation]

The fodder and small potatoes paid for harvesting. In the winter of 1857-8, I cleared another half acre at less expense. And in the June following, I sowed the whole with 13 quarts of buckwheat, and obtained 15 bushels of clear seed.

[blocks in formation]

I have cleared the remainder in the same manner, and with nearly the same result; averaging 15 bushels of buckwheat and one ton of straw per acre yearly. I cleared three-quarters of an acre last autumn, at an expense of about $26.

I have manured what I first cleared, for two years, for the

benefit of the trees; and I am satisfied that they have been improved by it to the full value of the crop raised on the land. By sowing buckwheat, I have cleared the land almost entirely of briars and other noxious plants; and I am convinced that it is a good crop to raise in a young and growing orchard.

The experiment of Mr. Killam is an interesting one, and has been conducted with considerable economy and skill, and with much industry. He has brought a waste piece of land into good orcharding; and his trees show that he has done it successfully. The Committee award him the second premium of ten dollars.

They trust that they will see an increased attention to the reclaiming of pasture lands for grazing purposes, as one of the most important branches of the agriculture of the County.

GEORGE B. LORING, Chairman.

FOREST TREES.

A few years ago, it was thought that our forest trees were fast falling before the woodman's axe, and that it was one of the most important objects to promote their growth. I had the honor, in 1838, to act on a committee of this Society, with the Hon. James H. Duncan and the Rev. Gardner B. Perry, on forest trees; and the report of the doings of that Committee may be found in the Transactions for 1839, awarding a premium of thirty dollars to Mr. Nathan Webster, of Haverhill, for his ten acre lot of cultivated forest trees.

« PreviousContinue »