518 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



seed harrow will bfc the best way of sowing the seeds, going twice over 

 the land, once with the light grass seeds up and down the furrow, and 

 then again the reverse way with the heavier clover seeds. An expert seeds- 

 man will, however, on a still day sow the seeds evenly by hand. Where 

 it is desired to sow permanent grass seeds on land already sown with fall 

 wheat, the end of March or in April will be a suitable time, as the wheat 

 plant will in some measure protect the young seeds from damage by frost. 

 A light harrowing before sowing and rolling after will be all the tillage re- 

 quired. 



When sown with spring grain, the seeds may be put in either directly 

 after the grain is harrowed in, or in May, when it is well up, the roller being 

 always used to cover them. Two or three Ibs. per acre of rape, is in some 

 districts commonly sown without a grain crop, either with mixed clovers 

 in alternate husbandry, or with permanent grass seeds. The rape and 

 seeds are fed off together in the following autumn, and if cake be also 

 given the young seeds are greatly enriched, and in fine weather the tread- 

 ing of the sheep benefits the seeds. Young seeds should not be closely 

 grazed the first year, or be trodden in wet weather by heavy stock. After 

 frosts commence in fall stock should not be allowed to go upon them. 

 Different opinions exist as to the best mode of treating the seeds the fol- 

 lowing spring. They may either be mown early in June, taking care not 

 to let them get overgrown, and afterwards fed, or they may be grazed 

 throughout. A top-dressng of two or three hundred of bone-dust will 

 in either case be often applied with advantage early in April. If, as 

 often happens when seeds are grazed, rough patches are left ungrazed 

 these should be mown off. 



Where the land is naturally poor, or has been exhausted by a long 

 course of tillage, a very liberal treatment will be required to bring it into 

 profitable turf. A dressing of good dung or 300 Ibs. of bones, repeated 

 light dressings of quick-acting manures, such as superphosphate, and the 

 feeding of cake on the land, are all efficient means of improving the turf. 

 Close feeding by sheep is deemed prejudicial, as they will pick out the 

 clovers and finer grasses, and leave the coaser grasses to get the mastery. 

 Where however cake is freely given, this objection is in some measure- 

 overcome, as the manure greatly enriched, thickens the turf, and sheep 

 when having cake will more rapidly eat coarse food. 



Our present knowledge of the adaptability of the better grasses and 

 clovers for permanent pasture in Canada, points to the following which 

 we obtain from many trials at the Ontario Experimental Farm. 



