52 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



becomes sod-bound it is common to plow it or disk it 

 thoroughly, when it will in a short time reestablish itself 

 and produce well again. 



Brome grass makes nutritious and palatable hay, if cut 

 early, the best time being when the heads are in flower. 

 There will afterward be a considerable growth of leaves 

 that may be mown or depastured. Brome grass is very 

 easily established if fresh seed is sown. I have had best 

 success sowing it quite early in spring on a well-prepared 

 seedbed. It should never be sown alone but with some 

 sort of clover or alfalfa. Alone, brome grass often be- 

 comes unproductive through its exhaustion of the nitro- 

 gen from the soil ; mixed with clovers or alfalfa it re- 

 mains productive for a very much longer time. 



Quantity of Seed. The seed of brome grass is light, 

 weighing about 14 pounds to the bushel and 20 pounds 

 are commonly sown to the acre. If sown with clovers I 

 would use less, seeking to get a full stand of clover or al- 

 falfa and a thin stand of brome grass, after which it will 

 rapidly thicken itself by means of its many creeping un- 

 derground stems. In time it will probably take posses- 

 sion of the land and after a while need either fertilization 

 or plowing and reseeding. The Nebraska Experiment 

 Station showed that unproductive brome grass could be 

 made to yield well by simply disking it thoroughly and 

 sowing clover in it. 



There are some dangers in brome grass seeding. One 

 is that one may get quack grass seed. On Woodland 

 Farm, seed sown in 1897, and received from the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, was mixed with 

 quack grass and brought the first of this grass to the 



