286 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



give a yield of 2 tons of hay, or one plant to about each 

 14 square feet. When 9 pounds of timothy are sown 

 on one acre over 200 seeds are left on each square foot. 

 When sown alone 10 to 15 pounds to the acre are com- 

 monly sown, and if clover is to be sown with it 8 to 10 

 pounds, and in the spring as much red clover or clover 

 mixtures. Commonly it is wise to err on the side of 

 too much seed, timothy on rich soil seeming the excep- 

 tion that goes to prove the rule. 



Aiding Young Grass Seedlings. Anything that will 

 keep the earth moist and shaded while young grasses are 

 getting started will be a real help. To distribute chaff 

 or light manure over the field would aid. Chaff from 

 the mangers or feeding floor will often result in a stand 

 of grass, when sowing pure seed would fail simply be- 

 cause the chaff would keep the earth from too rapid dry- 

 ing out. Further, to make the surface quite firm and 

 almost hard after the seed was sown w r ould be a distinct 

 gain since it would tend to hold the moisture near the 

 surface. 



Sowing the Seed. In my father's time men sowed all 

 seeds by hand, but that day is gone, and the men who 

 could thus evenly distribute seed are dead. The best ve- 

 hicles for sowing grass seeds are the fiddlebow seeder, 

 the Cahoon seeder (these with winged discs that throw 

 the seed far on either side, the man walking and turn- 

 ing the machine by hand) and the wheelbarrow seeder. 

 The latter tool is possibly the better, assuredly the most 

 accurate, though one can with care give good distribution 

 with either of the machines. There are drills made 

 for drilling in clover and alfalfa seeds; these work well 



