182 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



plants were more nuineroiis. When seed is wanted the 

 season after sowing, 1 to 12 pounds per acre should 

 suffice on average soils. To produce hay the year after 

 sowing the seed, from 12 to 15 pounds should be enough, 

 and for pasture 15 to 18 pounds. When sown in com- 

 bination with other grasses, the quantity may be made to 

 vary from 2 to 3 pounds, upwards, according to the ob- 

 ject sought. 



But little is yet known, based on American experi- 

 ence, as to the value of Russian brome grass for growing 

 in mixtures to make permanent pasture. Since it is 

 aggressive, it may be expected ultimately to crowd out 

 nearly all other kinds of grasses. Kentucky blue grass 

 is probably the only highly valuable pasture grass that 

 would not ultimately be entirely dispossessed by it, and 

 in northerly areas where the conditions are highly favor- 

 able to the growth of the Russian brome, even blue 

 grass may not be able to withstand its encroachments. 

 In Hungary it is sometimes grown along with alfalfa 

 and some Montana experience has also proved reason- 

 ably successful in growing it thus. In Manitoba, how- 

 ever, it has been grown successfully with timothy in such 

 rotations sowing about 6 pounds of each per acre. 



Because of the slow growth of Russian brome grass 

 when it is young, when it has been sown with a nurse 

 crop, the stand secured may appear feeble in the autumn 

 after the grain has been harvested. The heavier that 

 the growth of the grain has been and the drier the 

 autumn, the more feeble will the grass appear. Be- 

 cause of this, the temptation sometimes arises to break 

 up the field, under the imi)ressioii that the stand of 



