GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 29 



from a higher per centage of the seeds than if the con- 

 ditions were the opposite, and second, that the plants 

 reqnire more room for development hecanse of the great- 

 er size to which they grow. 3. The finer the charac- 

 ter of the fodder wanted from grasses fed in the green 

 or in the cnred form, the larger the amounts of seed 

 that are required. 4. When sowing varieties which 

 have the power to multiply plants as they grow by means 

 of creeping rootstocks moderate amounts of seed are 

 to be preferred to large amounts, unless when these 

 are sown in short rotations, lest they should soon be- 

 come too thick and matted to produce returns that would 

 j)rove entirely satisfactory. 5. When grasses are so^vn 

 alone more seed is required of the variety sown than 

 if the same variety were sown in combination Avith 

 other grasses, and the larger the number of grasses in 

 the combination the less the relative proportion of each 

 that should be sown. 6. When laying down land in per- 

 manent pasture larger amounts should be sown of those 

 varieties which are known to have the highest adapta- 

 tion and value for the conditions under which they are 

 sown and vice versa. 7. The quantity of seed required 

 usually increases with the size of the seed of any va- 

 riety and the opposite of this is also true. 8. In semi- 

 arid climates sparse or only moderately thick seeding 

 is preferable to thick seeding, as the degree of the 

 moisture obtainable is then more perfectly adjusted to 

 the needs of the individual plants. Notwithstanding 

 that it is not possible to state the amount of seed of 

 any given variety of seed that will answer equally well 

 for all areas, somethini>- will be said about the amounts 



