SELECTING SEED MIXTURES 283 



one can make a seed bed fine and fit by September. One 

 should not sow the seed until the ground is sufficiently 

 full of moisture so that if the seeds germinate they will 

 not perish for lack of support. Time of seeding varies 

 with location and with season. In the fall one can sow 

 grass seeds from August till* November, with the best 

 chances of success probably about the middle of Sep- 

 tember. In the spring one can hardly sow the seed too 

 early; certainly as soon as one can get a seed bed one 

 must put in the seed, and in spring seeding one can not 

 and need not delay so long to perfect a seed bed as in 

 the fall. 



The Mixture to Select. Many grass mixtures com- 

 pounded by seedsmen are silly agglomerations, with the 

 bulk made up of good varieties and. many poorer ones 

 added literally to throw chaff into the eye of the cus- 

 tomer. There is not a long list of good grasses adapted 

 to any soil. For example, if one has a soil adapted to 

 Kentucky bluegrass, and wishes to grow that grass, one 

 has no use for Canada bluegrass, redtop or a lot of 

 other grasses listed in seedsmen's catalogues. Mix with 

 bluegrass meadow fescue, brome grass and timothy, the 

 latter to come on soon and afford temporary pasture, and 

 the others because all three are good grasses liked by ani- 

 mals. One is unwise to sow orchard grass where one 

 desires bluegrass, because it is stronger and coarser, and 

 is not eaten by animals that can get bluegrass. For a 

 poor soil deficient in lime, use redtop, Canada bluegrass 

 and orchard grass. For mowing, in soil deficient in lime 

 and fertility, sow orchard grass, tall oatgrass and redtop. 

 For good soil with sufficient moisture, sow a mowing 



