GRASSES OF IOWA. 



309 



drouth is apt to injure the young plants which are not well 

 rooted, since the roots are very near the surface of the soil. 



Professors Wilson. Curtiss and Kent* found in some experi- 

 meuts made at Ames with timothy, tall meadow oat grass, 

 orchard grass and Hungarian brome that the earliest seeding 

 did best, good results coming from it in every case. No variety 

 failed when sown early. The late sowings of all the varieties 

 were failures, or partial failures. The earliest grass was sown 

 on March 23d, the latest on May 12th. 



Opinions differ in regard to amount of seed to be sown per 

 acre. The amount of timothy sown varies from five to seven 

 quarts per acre. The following table shows how much is 

 usually sown. 



AMOUNT OF GRASS SEED TO SOW, AND NUMBER OF GRASSES 

 IN ONE POUND OF SEED. 



NAME. 



Timothy 



Hungarian brome grass 



Bluegrass 



Red top 



Orchard grass 



Meadow fescue 



Tail meadow oat 



Rough-stalked meadow grass. 



*3 r^ 



M a 



!M1S 



-a 



^ 



48. 

 14. 



"8!32 



12.16 



12.26 



IQ. 



11.17 



Maintaing a pasture or meadow. — Frequent complaints are 

 made about pastures and meadows running out. There are 

 many causes for this. Many insects are responsible for the 

 destruction of the sod. The writer has seen acres of a firm 

 knit sod destroyed by the May beetle {LacJmosterna fusca). 

 Many other insects are active agents in the destruction of 

 meadows and pastures but space will not permit us to describe 

 the numerous insect enemies of grasses. Those who desire 

 information along this line should consult the works of ento- 



*BuU. Iowa Agrl. Exp. Sta. 15: 284. 

 20 



