18 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



be given to the young plants to become firmly rooted 

 before the arrival of winter. When they cannot be 

 sown thus early, it is usually better to defer sowing imtil 

 just before the ground freezes in the late autumn, in 

 localities where the winters are stern. Where they are 

 open, there may be hazard in sowing thus late, as, dur- 

 ing mild spells^ the seeds may sj^rout and perish later, 

 through heaving of the soil, or from other causes. But 

 some varieties of grasses are so tender as to render advis- 

 able the sowing of these only in the spring. 



^Notwithstanding that a good catch of the hardy va- 

 riety of grasses is more assured when they are sown in 

 the early autumn, it may not always be desirable to 

 sow them then, for various reasons. The nurse crops 

 with which they are commonly sown may not be needed, 

 the weather may be uncompromisingly dry, and the op- 

 portunity may not be present for putting the ground 

 in that condition which is necessary to render growth 

 reasonably assured. When these grasses cannot be sown 

 in the autumn, the aim should be to sow them in the 

 early spring, as early as the conditions will admit of 

 sowing them. The varieties are but few indeed that 

 are so tender that they will take injury from the se- 

 verity of the spring weather. When sown early, they 

 become firmly rooted before the dry weather of summer 

 foUows, and so can better withstand it. Hence it is 

 that grasses are frequently sown with advantage on the 

 lingering snows of winter or on the early snows of 

 spring. When sown on the undeparted snows of win- 

 ter, there is some hazard that a portion of the seed, at 

 least, may be carried away by the rapid melting of the 



