2 HE IRRIGATION AGE. 



193 



is. much relished in. this manner by the 

 sheep and cows. . It cannot be made into 

 a neat and attractive lawn grass because of 

 this feature. 



Stockmen who have tested tbe various 

 grasses for forage and pasture place them 

 in a list as follows: orchard, timothy, red- 

 top, Kentucky blue grass and bromus in- 

 ermis. First of all in' earliness, drouth 

 resisting and productiveness is the orchard 

 grass. It is also the king of winter pas- 

 ture grasses. Stock do not bioat on this 

 grass and it is never destroyed by over 

 pasturing, unless stock are penned on the 

 fields and kept there for feed yards. Those 

 who have never tried this grass should 

 plant a few acres and learn of its real 

 merits. It may be sown alone or with a 

 nurse crop and will be ready to cut the 

 following season. The seed costs about 

 15 10 20 cents a pound, or less when 100 

 pounds or more are purchased. 



JOEL SHOMAKER. 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. 



Grass composes one sixth of the whole 

 vegatable kingdom, and is the foundation 

 of wealth and successful agriculture. Of 

 the 800 cultivated varieties there is prob- 

 ably none more generally planted than the 

 Kentucky blue grass. This is one of the 

 oldest and most popular, as it furnishes 

 feed almost the entire year for sheep, 

 cattle and horses, and is suited for perma- 

 nent pastures, hay meadows and lawns. 

 It forms a thick turf, and is seldom in- 

 jured by anything but the long summer 

 drouths. The grass is very productive, 

 unusally early and exceedingly late. 

 Horses will dig up the snows of .midwinter 

 to find this luscious grass. 



Kentucky blue grass is known under 

 various names, as June grass, smooth 

 stalked meadow grass, green meadow grass 

 and spear grass. The plants are identical 

 and one seed, if genuine, will produce the 

 true blue grass just as well as the other. 

 The botanists call this grass poa pretensis. 



It is a perennial and grows to a height of 

 ten to fifteen inches. The flowering season 

 is about the middle of June, or some time 

 during that month. It produces only one 

 long flowering stem and this is filled with 

 seed. As a hay grass it is not so valuable 

 as others on. account of not producing so 

 many tons to the acre, although the qual- 

 ity is the very best, ai.d the hay sells for 

 good prices. 



The soil for Kentucky blue gra*s varies 

 according to localities. Moist meadows 

 are choice locations for growing this grass 

 and so are hillsides, tablelands and other 

 places where there is plenty of rain or 

 abundant sub-surface moisture. It will 

 not give good crops on the poor, clay hills, 

 or where the land is very dry and subject 

 to extreme drouth. The land should be 

 put in fine condition by plowing and pul- 

 verizing before sowing the seed. After 

 the land has been put in good condition it 

 should receive about 100 pounds muriates 

 of potash and 400 pounds ground bone per 

 acre. A top dressing of nitrate of soda of 

 say from 50 to 75 pounds would also 

 greatly promote the growth of the grass. 



Blue grass weighs 14 pounds to the 

 bushel, and is generally sown at the rate of 

 three bushels to the acre. The seed sells 

 for $1.50 to $2.00 a bushel, and can be 

 purchased of every seedsman in the coun- 

 try. Some farmers plant a small lawn or 

 orchard to this grass and save the seed for 

 future field sowing. The seed can be best 

 harvested by using a hand stripper, or tin 

 fronted box, made for the purpose. This 

 is nothing more than a box made like a 

 dip net, with a tin front having saw teeth 

 cut in small niches. It is pulled up 

 through the ripened grass, and collects 

 the seed in the box leaving the stems 

 standing. Any man can make one in a 

 few minutes and thus collect plenty of 

 seed from the lawn. 



The grass should be cut just as the seed 

 begins to ripen, if wanted for hay. If the 

 mower does not leave it laying very thinly 



