10 BOARD OF AGRIGULTURE. 



blunder, yet a ftiilure of grass to " catch," in most cases, is 

 simply a pure unvarnished blunder. 



The Mixture of Seed. 



The varieties of seed are determined to a considerable 

 extent by the character of the soil. No "cure-all" prescrip- 

 tion can be given which is best for every kind of soil, for 

 grasses have their " likes and dislikes." Very few of them are 

 cosmopolitan or at home everywhere. Herds-grass is really 

 the only itinerate sort that can " board round " and take " pot 

 luck" without a sigh for the sweets of home. Good herds- 

 grass grows in the dyked salt marsh at Scarboro'. 



The best success in seeding is based upon three conditions — 

 quantity, mixture and depth. 



For an acre, there should be forty pounds of such a mix- 

 ture as shall give eight seeds- to the square inch. This can 

 be no guess work or " rounded up " measure, for, by a change 

 of mixture, with considerably less than forty pounds, the 

 number of seeds can be doubled; thus, with 3 pounds of red- 

 top, 4 of clover, and 11 of herds-grass, or 18 pounds, we 

 have 15 seeds per square inch, or with white-top, red-top 

 and spear grass, each 3 pounds — or 9 pounds in all, there are 

 20 seeds per inch, far too many seeds, and not enough of 

 varieties. Some knowledge of the size and weight of seed is 

 requisite to prepare a mixture having the desired numl)er of 

 pounds and the required number of seeds — a pound of red- 

 top having 15 times as many seeds as a pound of red clover. 

 The sowing of grass seed is a centennial practice, yet its 

 hundred years of experience can give but little practical in- 

 formation respecting the name, properties and uses of grass 

 plants, or of those deserving cultivation for agricultural or 

 economic purposes. If these things are not so, why in this 

 " year of grace " do a majority of farmers limit the mixture 

 to timothy, red-top and clover, mixed in all the possible 

 mathematical permutations and combinations, and all the 

 divisi])le proportions from five to twentj^-five pounds ? When 

 land is seeded down to be in grass for years, (as is the 



