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weeks. They should be threshed from the wagon and some care must be 

 exercised in hauling the bundles to the thresher, otherwise many of the 

 seed will be lost by shattering. The yield upon rich soils is fifteen 

 bushels to the acre. It is put up in eight bushel sacks and the weight is 

 14 pounds to the bushel. 



Lawes and Gilbert, by selecting the best seed and sowing for several 

 years none but the best for several generations, established a new variety 

 which they called giant cock's-foot. The seed of this weighs only 10 

 pounds to the bushel, and there are only 34,000 seed to the ounce in place 

 of 40.000 of the ordinary orchard grass. This so-called giant orchard 

 grass is not in any respect superior to the common variety. 



It may, with confidence be said of orchard grass that it will suit the 

 ordinary Tennessee farmer better than any other grass for all purposes 

 except herd's grass, and it may with safety be recommended. It soon 

 arrives at maturity. It thrives upon almost every soil and in every variety 

 of situation. It produces an immense amount of herbage and hay. It 

 grows very rapidly and is a favorite with all kinds of cattle, especially 

 when grown in the sunshine. It is found in the best English and Ameri- 

 can pastures. It does not impoverish the soil and is not hard to destroy 

 when the land is wanted for other crops. 



Summing up the merits of this grass it may be said: 



1. It is better suited to every variety of soil than any other except 

 herd's grass. The writer has seen it growing with vigor on mountain 

 heights and in valley plains, on sandy loams and calcareous soils; on the 

 coarse sandstone soils of the Cumberland Mountain, and on the tertiary 

 loess and alluvium of West Tennessee, as well as upon the cretaceous 

 sands of that division. He has grown it with success upon the siliceous 

 soils of the rimlands, and has seen it enliven the landscape of the Cen- 

 tral Basin with its mantle of verdure. It is best adapted to the sandy 

 loams of West Tennessee and to the lands of the Central Basin having a 

 porous subsoil. On lands having a tenacious clay foundation, the roots 

 are checked in their descent, and the growth is not so luxuriant; nor is 

 the duration of the pasture so great. 



2. It will grow with greater rapidity than any other grass and for 

 this reason will sustain a larger number of stock. It is excellent for soil- 

 ing purposes. 



3. It will grow in the shade. This quality will enable the farmers to 

 utilize their woodlands as pasture, and so make them a source of profit. 



4. It will resist drought better than almost any other grass. The hot 

 summers make this a very valuable quality in any grass. Often in July 

 and August the pastures become so parched as to afford but a small 

 amount of grazing. Orchard grass then comes to the rescue and supplies 

 the deficiency. 



5. It is both a pasture and a hay grass. After a crop of hay has been 

 taken off in May or June, the aftermath will furnish a good pasture 

 throughout the remainder of the summer. A prominent sheep raiser of 

 Tennessee who has been carrying a thousand sheep or more, says that 

 during the summer it will carry double as many sheep as blue grass, acre 

 for acre; but that blue grass will furnish more and better winter grazing. 



