148 



GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



are 425,000 grains. In a pound there are 6,800,000 seeds; 

 in a bushel, or twelve pounds, there are 81,t500,000 seeds. Now 

 take only one peck of Timothy seed to mix with it. In an 

 ounce of Timothy grass seed there are 74,000 grains. In a 

 pound there are 1,204,000 grains. In eleven pounds, or a peck, 

 there are 13,244,000 seeds, and if Ave take but four pounds of 

 clover, which is below the average quantity used, we shall find 

 by the same process that we have 1,024,000 seeds. If now we 

 add these sums together, we shall find that we have put upon 

 the acre no less tlian 95,868,000 seeds ! This gives over 15 

 seeds to the square inch, or about 2,200 seeds to the square 

 foot! 



Again, one of the most intelligent farmers of Middlesex 

 county, a practical man, uses five pecks of redtop and twelve 

 quarts of Timothy seed per acre, for mowing lands, and an 

 addition of five pounds of white clover for pastures, making no 

 less than 124,426,000 seeds per acre. There must be, evidently, 

 an enormous waste of seed, or an extensive destruction of 

 plants, for if we take nature for our guide, we shall not find any 

 thing like that amount of plants on an inch or a foot of our 

 grass lands. Now let us see from a very careful trial how many 

 plants and how many species are to be found in a square foot. 



Table XV. Average number of Plants and Species to the square 

 foot of Sward. 



CHARACTER OF THE TURF. 



oS 5 

 ,fl <.- c* 



1. A square foot taken from the richest natural pasture, capable of 



fattening one large ox or three sheep to the acre, was found to 

 contain 



2. Rich old pasture, capable of fattening one largo ox and three 



sheep, per acre, 



3. Another old pasture contained 



4. An old pasture of a damp, moist, and mossy surface, 



5. A good pasture, two years old, laid down to rye grass and white 



clover, 



6. A Bod of narrow-leaved meadow grass, (poa angustifolia,) six years 



old, 



7. A sod of meadow foxtail by itself, sis years old, .... 



8. Rye Grass by itself, same age, 



9. Meadow, irrigated and carefully managed, 



1,000 



1,090 

 910 

 634 



470 



192 



1,79 



940 



1,032 

 880 

 510 



452 



1,702 



60 



30 

 124 



20 



12 



9G 



