SEEDING TO FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 23 
In a dry climate weed seeds buried in the soil retain their vitality 
longer. Mustards, Ragweeds and other annuals may be reduced by 
seeding the land to meadow or pasture for a term of years, though it 
is scarcely possible to prevent occasional plants from ripening a few 
seeds each year. 
After seeding to grass and clover on reasonably clean land, an 
early maturing nurse crop can usually be counted upon to check 
weed growth and prevent the seeds from maturing before the crop 
is harvested. The nurse crop should be ready to harvest or be cut 
for fodder within three or at most three and a half months after 
seeding. If weeds are not too prevalent when the nurse crop is 
harvested, it is better for the seedling grass and clover to leavea 
stubble four or five inches high. That will remove the seed stalks 
of the taller and more vigorous weeds and will enable the still tender 
fodder plants to gradually adapt themselves to altered conditions. 
Autumn weeds may be largely prevented from seeding by cutting 
with a mowing machine about a month after the nurse crop is har- 
vested, and when Ragweed is prevalent this is especially important. 
In the development of a meadow it frequently happens, as 
a result of unfavourable weather, irregular seeding, patches of too 
wet or too hard and dry soil, or a heavy nurse crop perhaps lodging 
in places, that the seedling plants suffer severely or are killed out 
in small areas. As soon as the autumn rains commence, or, if the 
soil is sufficiently moist, at any time after the summer heat is past, 
it is well to re-seed such patches quite thickly. If necessary, apply 
a thin dressing of rotted barnyard manure to cover the seed, to 
retain moisture and to insure vigorous autumn growth. If the 
killed out areas are large, it is sometimes advisable to use a sharp 
harrow to make a good seed bed. If the late fall is favourable and 
the re-seeded patches are well protected during the winter, they 
should make a fair growth, even for the first cutting, and succeeding 
crops will well repay the trouble and expense. 
In addition to the suppression of weeds, close cutting with a 
mowing machine, not later than the third week in September, or 
about a monthafter the nurse crop is harvested, stimulates the branch- 
ing and stooling out of the clovers and grasses, thus insuring a thicker 
stand and a more uniform growth the following spring. By removing 
the nurse crop stubble and the autumn weed growth, a cleaner and 
better quality of hay is secured from the first cutting. It is import- 
ant, however, that this be done in plenty of time to insure a good 
top growth for winter protection. The last cut of Alfalfa should be 
