II 



PERENNIAL FORAGE GRASSES 



I. CULTURAL METHODS 



25. Nurse Crop. The usual method of sowing grass seed is 

 to sow with grain crops. Undoubtedly this is good practise 

 for most regions. Usually no crop of hay can be harvested 

 the first year. If sown alone the land is not sufficiently shaded 

 by the grass to prevent the growth of weeds, which otherwise 

 must be mown at considerable expense. The crop of hay the 

 succeeding year is no better than if grain had been sown with 

 the crop the preceding year. This is especially true of our 

 leading hay crops timothy, red clover, mammoth red clover, 

 and redtop. A crop of grain, also, is obtained at little addi- 

 tional expense. The New Hampshire Station x conducted an 

 experiment in seeding meadow with nurse crop versus no nurse 

 crop. The hay crop consisted of a mixture of 17 pounds of 

 grass seed and 12 pounds of clover seed per acre, while barley 

 served as a nurse crop. Although the yield from that portion 

 of the field sown with barley greatly exceeded that without 

 barley the first season, the yield the second season was dis- 

 tinctly in favor of that portion where no nurse crop had been 

 sown. Nevertheless the total weights for the two seasons 

 showed an excess of 1.8 tons in favor of the crop sown with 

 barley. Whether or not the relative yields would remain con- 

 stant, had the experiment been continued, the indications are 

 that for New Hampshire conditions the nurse crop is advisable. 



In some regions, however, timothy sown alone in fall will 



1 New Hampshire Sta. Bui. No. 59 (1898), p. 186. 



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