15 



Even upon the trailed and worn-out soils, if sown and top dressed with a 

 small quantity of stable manure, it will be a powerful factor in the recla- 

 mation of the soil and at the same time it will yield a large amount of 

 good grazing. It is not only a good meadow grass but it is one of our 

 best pasture grasses. Grazing indeed is almost necessary for its perpet- 

 uation and preservation. It loves a moist soil best and on swampy places 

 that are unfit for the growth of almost any other useful grass, herd's grass 

 will thrive in the greatest vigor. 



PERMANENT AND ADAPTED TO EVERY SOIL— By all odds 

 it is the most permanent grass for all soils. Blue grass is very dainty in 

 the selection of its soil. Timothy must have moist and rich but not wet 

 soils. Clover even, the greatest of our forage plants, will only grow well 

 upon rich calcareous loams but herd's grass is a universal feeder and as 

 such is of use to every farmer, whatever may be the character of his soil 

 or the location of his farm. 



In a wet soil, especially, herd's grass sends out is long creeping 

 roots and takes full possession. It assumes in such situations a stolini- 

 ferous form, that is to say it sends out shoots from the base, which take 

 root at every joint and produce a thick dense sod. A pasture of herd's 

 grass where it is well set is much valued by dairymen everywhere for it 

 will bear tramping and will continue its growth for a longer period dur- 

 ing the year than almost any other grass. When the grass has been cut 

 for hay its aftermath makes the very best late summer and fall pastures. 



A HAY AND PASTURE GRASS— It does not rank as high as tim- 

 othy as a hay grass but as a combined hay and pasture grass it deservedly 

 stands at the head of all economic grasses in Tennessee. When sown 

 upon lands inclined to be wet it often attains a height of four feet. The 

 writer has seen it growing in the sandy creek bottoms in Carroll county 

 five feet high and so rank as to yield three tons of hay to the acre. 

 Usually upon uplands it will attain to a height of from two to three feet. 

 When in full bloom its purplish or brownish panicles present by their 

 feathery undulations a most charming sight. 



WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW— Herd's grass may be sown in 

 the fall or in the spring. It may be sown alone or with a nurse crop, as 

 wheat, barley, rye or oats. If the farmer should desire to sow it for a 

 meadow it is best sown alone, about the first of October, upon land well 

 pulverized by plowing and frequent harrowing. One bushel of seed in 

 the chafT is not too much to sow to the acre. Of clean seed half that 

 quantity evenly distributed will be ample. For the making of hay it 

 should not be sown upon uplands, unless the soil is very fertile or the 

 land freshly opened to cultivation. While it is the best of all grasses for 

 pastures upon thin soils, it yields upon such soils but a small quantity of 

 hay. 



In England it is supposed to grow best on sandy soils, and such is 

 the experience of the farmers in West Tennessee, but in other parts of 

 the state the best results are obtained by sowing it upon a deep calca- 

 rous loam. It makes a fair meadow grass upon the sandy soils of the 

 Cumberland table-land, but the places for such meadows are usually 

 selected in creek basins where the sandv soils are moist. Notwith- 



