Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

White Clover

([Fig. 70]), often called Honeysuckle, is also widely diffused over this country, to which it is undoubtedly indigenous. As a mixture in all pasture grasses it holds a very high rank, as it is exceedingly sweet and nutritious, and relished by stock of all kinds. It grows most luxuriantly in moist grounds and moist seasons, but easily accommodates itself to a great variety of circumstances.

With respect to the mixtures of grass-seeds most profitable for the dairy farmer, no universal rule can be given, as they depend very much upon the nature of the soil and the locality. The most important point to be observed, and one in which we, as a body, are perhaps most deficient, is to use a large number of species, with smaller quantities of each than those most commonly used. This is nature’s rule; for, in examining the turf of a rich old pasture, we shall find a large number of different species growing together, while, if we examine the turf of a field sown with only one or two different species, we find a far less number of plants to the square foot, even after the sod is fairly set. No improvement in grass culture is more important, it seems to me. I have suggested, in another place, a large number of mixtures adapted to the different varieties of soil and circumstance, together with the reasons for the mixture in many instances. (See A Practical Treatise on Grasses and Forage Plants, comprising their Natural History, Comparative Nutritive Value, Methods of Cultivating, Cutting, and Curing, and the Management of Grass Lands, &c. 236 pp. 8vo., with illustrations.) As an instance of what I should consider an improvement on our ordinary mixtures for permanent pastures, I would suggest the following as likely to give satisfactory results, dependent, of course, to a considerable extent, on the nature and preparation of the soil:

Meadow Foxtail, flowering in May and June,	2	pounds
Orchard Grass, flowering in May and June,	6	“
Sweet-scented Vernal, flowering in April and May,	1	“
Meadow Fescue, flowering in May and June,	2	“
Redtop, flowering in June and July,	2	“
June Grass, flowering in May and June,	4	“
Italian Rye Grass, flowering in June,	4	“
Perennial Rye Grass, flowering in June,	6	“
Timothy, flowering in June and July,	3	“
Rough-stalked Meadow Grass, flowering in June and July,	2	“
Perennial Clover, flowering in June,	3	“
White Clover, flowering in May to September,	5-40	“

For mowing-lands the mixture would, of course, be somewhat changed. The meadow foxtail and sweet-scented vernal would be left out entirely, and some six or eight pounds added to the Timothy and red clover. The proper time to lay down lands to grass in the latitude of New England is August or September, and no grain crop should be sown with the seed.

Stiff or clayey pastures should never be over-stocked, but when fed pretty close the grasses are far sweeter and more nutritious than when they are allowed to grow up rank and coarse; and if, by a want of sufficient feeding, they get the start of the stock, and grow into rank tufts, they should be cut and removed, when a fresh grass will start up, similar to the aftermath of mowing-lands, which will be greedily eaten. Grasses for curing into hay should be cut either at the time of flowering or just before, especially if designed for milch cows. They are then more succulent and juicy, and, if properly cured, form the sweetest food.

Grass cut in the blossom will make more milk than if allowed to stand later. Cut a little before the blossoming, it will make more than when in the blossom; and the cows prefer it, which is by no means an unimportant consideration, since their tastes should always be consulted. Grass cut somewhat green, and properly cured, is next to fresh, green grass in palatable and nutritive qualities. And so a sensible practical farmer writes me: “The time of cutting grass depends very much upon the use you wish to make of it. If for working oxen and horses, I would let it stand till a little out of the blossom; but if to feed out to new milch cows in the winter, I would prefer to cut it very green. It is then worth for the making of milk in the winter almost double that cut later.” Every farmer knows the milk-producing properties of rowen, which is generally cut before it blossoms.

No operation on the farm is of greater importance to the dairyman than the cutting of his grass and the manner of curing hay, and in this respect the practice over the country generally is susceptible of very great improvement. The chief object is to preserve the sweetness and succulence of grass in its natural state, so far as it is possible; and this object cannot be gained by exposing it too long to the scorching suns and the drenching rains to which we are liable in this climate. We generally try to make our hay too much.

As to the best modes of curing clover, my own experience and observation accord with that of several practical farmers, who write me as follows: “My method of curing clover is this: What is mown in the morning I leave in the swath, to be turned over early in the afternoon. At about four o’clock, or while it is still warm, I put it into small cocks with a fork, and, if the weather is favorable, it may be housed on the fourth or fifth day, the cocks being turned over on the morning of the day it is to be carted. By so doing all the heads and leaves are saved, and these are worth more than the stems. This has been my method for the last ten years. For new milch cows in the winter I think there is nothing better. It will make them give as great a flow of milk as any hay, unless it be good rowen.” Another says: “When the weather bids fair to be good, I mow it after the dew is off, and cock it up after being wilted, using the fork instead of rolling with the rake, and let it remain several days, when it is fit to put into the barn.” And another: “I mow my clover in the forenoon, and towards night of the same day I take forks and pitch it into cocks and let it stand till it cures. The day I cart it, I turn the cocks over, so as to air the lower part. I then put it into the mow with all the leaves and heads on, and it is as nice and green as green tea. I think it worth for milch cows and sheep as much per ton as English hay.” And still another: “I have found no better hay for farm stock than good clover, cut in season. For milch cows it is much better than Timothy. The rowen crop is better than any other for calves.”