12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



live. The seeds are small and proportionally weak in their 

 powers of growth. An experiment made with thirty-three 

 varieties furnished this fact : That of the thirty-three kinds, 

 twenty-eight of them came np vigorous and strong at a depth 

 of one-half inch ; at an inch and a half, nine did not come ; 

 at two inches and- a half, twenty-four would not come. Sur- 

 face sowing in the spring, unless in damp weather, is a bad 

 practice. A slight covering is desirable for the purpose of 

 retaining moisture, because the seed must absorb its own 

 weight of water before it can sprout. The method pursued 

 by many of harrowing the grass seed is exceedingly objec- 

 tionable. The best of all ways to "do it" is to sow plaster 

 (sulphate of lime) after grass seeding. 



Again, each species of grass has its own peculiar require- 

 ments. Rhode Island bent is delighted to find salt in the 

 soil ; the clovers luxuriate on lime. Some prefer alkaline 

 soils, others can grow in the presence of soda only ; thus, for 

 want of judicious selection thousands of grass acres yield the 

 most meagre returns. 



In our present state of practical or chemical knowledge, 

 we may not be able to tell what combinatien of grasses is 

 best ; but we can say without the hazard of contradiction, 

 that a combination is best, and by effecting physical and 

 chemical alterations in the soil, we may adapt it to almost 

 any kind of grass. Sorrel, which by most farmers is supposed 

 to be an evidence of "sourness" of soil, is said to be serving 

 a good purpose in nature's economy, by liberating potash 

 from the insoluble combinations in which it exists in the soil. 

 Its " sour " oxalic acid is sweetening the land for clover. 



The ash of plants is suggestive ; one needs an extra feed 



of lime, another of potash. The findings of analysis are, 



for 



Herds Grass, Potash 24 per ct. ; lime, 15 per ct. ; phosphates, 11 per ct. 

 Orchard Grass, '' 29 " " 8 '' '' 8 '' 



June Grass, " 31 " " 6 " " 10 " 



Eed Clover, " 36 •' '' 23 " " 7 " 



White Clover, ^' 14 " " 26 " " 14 " 



Meadow Foxtail, '• 37 " " 4 " "■ 6 " 



