308 GKASSES OF IOWA. 



directly on the stubble and covered by a thorough dragging 

 with a heavy harrow. In this treatment the land should always 

 be made very rich acd the millet should be cut before the seed 

 has developed. It is also a good plan to leave the stubble 

 long, to serve as a snow-catch for the protection of the timothy. 

 A more common practice is to manure the ground thoroughly, 

 plow, and plant to corn or some other cultivated crop that does 

 not draw heavily upon the soil; manure lightly with well- 

 rotted stable manure the text spring and sow to timothy, using 

 wheat or some other small grain as a nurse plant. The wheat 

 is usually sown broadcast and covered witb a cultivator, har- 

 rowed smooth, and the timothy sown later, and the ground 

 rolled or gone over with a brush drag. This is one of the most 

 successful methods. Another plan of tea followed is t3 take a 

 field thai has raised a crop of small grain (say, oats), manure 

 heavily and fall plow, sow in spring to wheat or barley, either 

 with drill or broadcast, and seed to timothy, either with the 

 nurse crop or later." 



Professor Shelton* racommends sowing grass seed in early 

 spring after the rains set in. In the northern states grass 

 seed should be sown in the fall. Grass seed should not be cov- 

 ered deeply, as the seed usually has not sufficient nourishment 

 to push through the soil when covered deeply. 



Professors Wilson and Curtissf found that timothy raked 

 in on April 9th made its appearance on April 27th; that cov- 

 ered one inch deep was not all above the ground; the same con- 

 ditions prevailed. They state that seed covered two inches 

 deep' was deeper roDted and hence stood the drouth better. 



In the south J nearly all perennial grasses will do better when 

 sown in August and September. This enables the roots to 

 become well eslablished before frost, and next season helps lo 

 keep the weeds down. The only uncertain factor in sowicg 

 grass seed in the fall is that many years the fall is so dry dur 

 ing September that the soil cannot be properly prepared and 

 the seed sown in time to give the plants a chance to grow 

 before frost. When winter sets in, the young plants should be 

 strong and vigorous and well rooted, as the frost during the win- 

 ter will destroy many plants. If the plants are well started 

 they will make a much better showing than spring sown, as the 



*Beal. Grassesof N. Am 1:345. (Ed. 2 ) 

 +Bull. Iowa Agrl. Exp. Sta. 19: 610. 



*Lam8on-3crlber. Southern Forage Plants. U.S. Dept. of Agrl. Farmers' Bull. 

 102: 6. 



