298 NO UNIVERSAL RULE. 



found that no season is without its exposure to loss ; 

 for, if we sow in autumn and have an open and severe 

 winter, with frequent changes from comparatively warm 

 and thawing weather to excessive cold, the young grass 

 will be likely to suffer ; while, if we sow in spring with 

 some kind of grain, as oats, barley, or rye, and have a 

 drought in spring or summer, as we generally do, the 

 grass may be injured, and may be entirely killed. No 

 invariable rule for all soils and seasons can be given. 

 But the weight of authority seems to fix upon early 

 autumn as the best season to sow grass-seed, sowing 

 it alone, without a grain crop; and the losses from proper 

 seeding down at that season are probably considerably 

 less, in an average of years, than those which arise from 

 spring sowing with grain. 



This does not, perhaps, apply to very strong clayey 

 soils, which retain a large amount of moisture. On such 

 soils the frost is very liable to " heave " the roots, and 

 unless they are rolled very early in spring, which, on 

 such lands, is not usually practicable, the young plants 

 are entirely destroyed. Such lands, it is well known, 

 require thorough drainage. They are difficult to till 

 profitably without it, and, when once thoroughly 

 drained, the same rule, as to the time of sowing, would 

 apply to them, as to medium soils. 



No rule in regard to the time of seeding down land, 

 which should be found to work best in one latitude, 

 would necessarily apply in a different climate, and under 

 different circumstances. 



