SEEDING TO GRASS. 247 



tributed, less seed will be required. For sowing by a machine, 

 the seeds should be well cleaned and freed from leaves and straws 

 and the machine frequently examined to see that the seed is pass- 

 ing through evenly. 



Where the soil is loamy, sandy, or light, it is an excellent plan 

 to roll the surface after seeding. This process brings the soil in 

 close contact Avith the seed and renders it more likely to germinate. 



Seeding by Inoculation. — This is rarely practiced, but has 

 Bometimes been resorted to in England. It consists in cutting 

 ropes of turf from an old pasture, and these are chopped up into 

 pieces about 1^ by 2 inches. They are placed by hand about 

 nine inches apart over the ground. This is for meadow what 

 Bodding is for a lawn. The results are quick and sure, but rather 

 expensive. 



Quack grass, Bermuda grass, and Johnson grass are often 

 seeded by scattering or planting fragments of the rootstalks, 

 cither with a hoe or by dropping in part of the furrows as the 

 field is plowed. 



Seeding Grass with Grain. — The following was prepared 

 by John J. Thomas, of Nc\r York : " The most rapid way of 

 obtaining a grass crop is to sow the grass seed alone without any 

 grain. If done earl}^ in the spring, on clean, well prepared 

 ground, Ave may get a cut of hay the same year, usually about two- 

 thirds of a full crop, and a heavy one the second year. It will 

 make a vast difference whether we sow plenty of seed or only a 

 small quantity. Wc have sown a mixture of Timothy and clover 

 at the rate of a bushel per acre, and had about twice as heavy a 

 crop as that afforded by a scant seeding of less than a peck per 

 acre. It is very important to have it covered Avith good, mellow 

 earth, buried at a depth not greater than five or six times its 

 largest diameter. To grow freely, one-fourth to one-half an inch 

 is deep enough in moist soil, but clover Avill germinate and a 

 grow at a depth of an inch. Much will depend on the mellow- 



