MANAGEMENT OF MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 1Q5 



grass seeds should not be covered with more than an eighth of an 

 inch of earth. A much smaller proportion of seeds germinate ;it ;i 

 quarter of an inch deep, and they are nearly all destroyed at the 

 depth of an inch. Mr. Sinclair, after recommending that the large 

 seeds should be separated from the small ones of a mixture by a 

 wire sieve, remarks as follows: "I have sown the seeds of the 

 same grasses in every month of the year, January excepted, and 

 though much depends on the weather and the state of the ground, 

 the results were always in favor of the month of September and 

 the beginning of August, and next to that the middle and latter 

 end of May, according as the weather was dry. The seeds vege- 

 tated and grew with most vigor under the following circumstances: 

 When the ground had been stirred, broken very fine, and made 

 perfectly smooth and compact on the surface with a heavy roller 

 previous to sowing the seeds, — the ground in a dry state at the 

 time of sowing, — the seed sown on this fine, dry compact sur- 

 face, the larger seed not more than just covered by drawing a fine 

 rake on the level surface, and afterwards sowing the small seeds 

 and covering them no farther than what was effected by a repe- 

 tition of the roller. The result further showed, that next to a 

 coarse, unconsolidated or loose surface, the practice of deep sow- 

 ing was in the second degree more injurious to the vegetation of 

 the seeds and the first progress of the plants, than any other error 

 that could be made in the manual part of the process of sowing 

 the natural grasses on a soil of good quality." These facts show 

 the impropriety of harrowing in grass seeds in the usual manner, 

 since most of the seeds will in this way be buried beyond the 

 possibility of germination. 



Most farmers are accustomed to sow their grass seeds with 

 some kind of grain, and many defend the practice on principle, 

 but I think the preponderance of evidence is clearly and unequiv- 

 ocally on the side of those who advocate separate sowing. The 

 practical results have almost invariably been in favor of this 

 method when it has properly been done, and theoretical consider- 

 ations would most certainly lead to this practice. The grain crop 

 abstracts from th a. soil a large portion of the nutriment which is 

 needed exclusively by the young grass. ' Every plant of grain 

 occupies a place to the detriment of the expected sward, much 

 injury is done by the lodging of the grain when beaten down by 

 heavy rains. The young plants are repressed in the spring by 

 the shade of the grain when they most need the genial influence of 



