SEEDING. 159 



the field need not be so dry as if mown by horse and ma- 

 chine. If the weather is very dry, an irrigation of an 

 hour or two during the previous evening will moisten the 

 grass and greatly facilitate the cutting. Valuable herb- 

 age may be encouraged and useless weeds repressed, to a 

 great extent, by the use of superphosphate of lime as an 

 occasional dressing. Excessive watering encourages coarse 

 grasses and sedges, and the growth of these injurious 

 weeds must be carefully guarded against, by care in ap- 

 plying the water and by drainage. The early maturity of 

 the grass necessitates early cutting. The proper time for 

 cutting is before the seed is ripe, and immediately after 

 the blossoming is past. Some of the grasses thrive best 

 when cut before blossoming, and recover the check with- 

 out loss of time. For a perennial meadow, this is a mat- 

 ter for observation and experience, and is important to 

 study. Re-seeding in part will be occasionally needed. 

 No grass endures indefinitely, and as the herbage dies out, 

 it must be reinforced by new seed. This is to be done by 

 spreading from time to time, when found necessary, a 

 sufficient quantity of that kind of seed which is found to 

 grow most thriftily in the locality, and upon each parti- 

 cular soil. These conditions are so diverse that it would 

 be useless to give even general directions, or attempt to 

 meet them. Each owner of a meadow must in this be a 

 law unto and a judge for himself. 



Some species of grass will bear much more cutting 

 than others. One of the best of our common grasses for 

 irrigated meadows is Kentucky Blue-grass. This has been 

 found to submit to frequent watering, and has made a 

 profuse growth, more especially late in the season. A 

 watered meadow, covered almost wholly with this grass, 

 has been in fine condition for cutting in September, and 

 has yielded a good crop of hay as late as the first week in 

 October. After that date the field furnished abundant 

 pasturage until the severe frosts made the herbage un- 



