214 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



but one or two seasons or it may be sown alone or along 

 with other grasses to provide pasture that is to endure 

 for a number of years. As with all other grasses it is 

 best sown on a clean soil, consequently in the rotation 

 it should naturally follow crops that have been cultivated 

 and kept clean during the season of growth. But since 

 it has much power to grow while the plants are yet 

 young, it can fight its own battle better than some other 

 grasses, should it be necessary to sow it on soil not 

 well cleaned. Especially woidd this be true if the weeds 

 in these soils were annuals, as, subsequently to the cut- 

 ting of the first crop the oat grass could be so dealt with 

 as to prevent these from re-seeding. 



Tall oat grass could be followed by almost any crop 

 that would grow in the locality, but it would be j^refera- 

 ble to follow it with a crop that requires much vegetable 

 matter in the soil in an easily accessible form to grow 

 it at its best, as corn, the non-saccharine sorghums, po- 

 tatoes and certain kinds of garden produce; also the 

 small cereals non-leguminous in character. In Britain 

 one form of oat grass known as the hulbosuni, is difficult 

 to get out of the soil when the sod is broken, but no dif- 

 ficulty of this nature occurs with tall oat grass. 



Preparing the Soil. — The preparation of the soil for 

 tall oat grass is essentially the same as for other grasses 

 that have been discussed, l^orth or south, east or west, 

 the aim should be to have a clean seed bed. N'orth or 

 south, simply cultivating or disking and then harrowing 

 the land after a crop that has been cultivated will be a 

 sufficient preparation for receiving the seed, whether 

 sown fall or sjDring. When the oat grass is sown at either 



