enemy to another plant of the same species than to a plant of a diffei-ent 

 species. Among the grasses that may be most profitably sown for mead- 

 ows in Tennessee are timothy, herd's grass, perennial rye grass, meadow 

 oat grass, and tall fescue grass, with a slight sprinkling of clover. In 

 sowing a meadow each kind of seed should be sown separately. If the 

 seeds are mixed together the weight of some will prevent them from be- 

 ing uniformly distributed with the lighter seeds. He who desires a good 

 meadow should not spare the seed. A wise plan is to sow nearly as much 

 of each kind of seed upon the meadow as is required when only one kind 

 is sown. 



The best time for sowing meadows in Tennessee is the last of Sep- 

 tember or the fir.st of October. After the seeds are sown they should be 

 covered with a roller or a light brush and all stock kept out. Farmers 

 more often than otherwise sow grass seed in the fall of the year with 

 wheat. This is poor economy. A meadow should be sown for its own sake. 

 In trying to .save the cost of preparing the land a second time there results 

 in a majority of instances, the total loss of the grass seed. At any rate 

 in soAving grass seed with wheat, rye or barley a whole year and a half 

 must elapse before any returns can be realized from the meadow. An- 

 other objection to this method is the temptation to pasture the stubble 

 lands during the heated term and so destroy or impair the vitality of the 

 grasses. If the soil has been properly prepared and a sufficient amount 

 of good grass seed sown alone in the early fall one may expect with the 

 greatest confidence a good crop of hay the succeeding summer. Often- 

 times the heaviest crop of hay is the first one. This arises from the fact 

 that close mowing the first year frequently kills a portion of the meadow 

 grasses, leaving bare spots. Grasshoppers often eat the crowns of the 

 fresh grass in the fall of the year, and so thin it out. Grazing the after- 

 math, which many farmers practice, does much damage to the meadow, 

 to say nothing of the injurious effects resulting from the heavy tread of 

 cattle, especially when the ground is soft and wet. Tramped in this con- 

 dition the soil becomes, after exposure to the sun, little better than a sun 

 dried brick. 



It frequently happens that a meadow becomes "hide-bound;" that is 

 to say, the soil and subsoil run together and become very compact either 

 from tramping of stock or from standing water. When this is the case 

 the grass will show a diminished vitality by turning yellow. Under these 

 conditions it will rarely grow tall enough to be mowed. The best rem- 

 edy for this "hide-bound" condition is to take a very narrow subsoil plow 

 with a coulter attached and run it at intervals of two feet through the 

 meadow and as deep as possible. This will roughen some places but by 

 running a fine toothed harrow over it it may be made sufficiently level for 

 the mower. The best time for this subsoiling is early in the spring, as 

 soon as the ground becomes dry enough to plow. Old meadows may be 

 made productive by pursuing this plan and top-dressing with manure 

 directly afterwards. This same treatment should be given to pastures 

 after they have ceased to be productive. 



MANURING OF MEADOWS— The farmers of Tennessee rarely 

 cut the aftermath. Sometimes it grows high enough during a wet sum- 



