KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. 103 



times of even less duration. The yield of course varies 

 gTeatlj; the approximate average may be put at 7 to 8 

 bushels j>er acre, but in some instances as many as 25 

 bushels have been harvested. 



Great care must be used in curing blue grass seed or 

 it will lose its germinating power. It heats very read- 

 ily, so much so, that what is gathered should be emptied 

 from the sacks at the end of each half day's work. It 

 should be spread on a tarpaulin or on clean ground to dry 

 in the sun, or on a drying floor with the opportunity for 

 more or less draught to pass over it. On the floor it 

 would not be well to si>read seed more deeply than two 

 inches at the first. The depth may be gradually in- 

 creased, but at no time probably should it be more than 

 say 15 to 20 inches. So quickly does the newly stripped 

 seed heat when not thinly spread, that it has been known 

 to entirely lose its germinating power within 24 hours 

 of the time at which it was harvested. While newly 

 harvested seed may possess 95 per cent in germinating 

 power, seed put upon the market is considered good when 

 the germinating power is 50 }>er cent. After the seed 

 has been dried sufficiently it is usually shij^ped to cer- 

 tain centers where it is cleaned with machinery espe- 

 cially adapted to the work. 



This grass will furnish seed in suitable localities for 

 successive years. Xor does the reaping of seed hinder 

 grazing the land subsequently the same season. It is 

 claimed that after the seed is harvested, more grazing 

 will be obtained from such a pasture than from one 

 that has been grazed closely from spring until fall. The 

 claim is probably correct, since the harvesting only re- 



