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Every little spot of the land should produce its share of the 

 crop; not the smallest portion should lie waste. That is the great 

 aim a farmer and dairyman should have constantly before him. 

 And as it is the seedsman to whom the farmer looks as a rule 

 for his advice and counsel, it is he, therefore, who cannot be too 

 careful in composing his grass-seed mixtures. 



Now, the main thing a seedsman should have in view when 

 doing so, is first to look for those grasses which answer the 

 purpose best. If for pastures, to use those varieties which with 

 the greatest possible production give a quality of hay of the greatest 

 nutritive value. If for lawns, to make his choice amongst those 

 varieties which with a deep-green shade produce the finest possible 

 leaves. The next thing, which applies to both purposes is to see 

 such varieties put in, which fill up one another in their deficiency, 

 where it concerns to see every little space of the soil covered. 



As explained above, it is the capacity of certain grasses, and 

 we state as a fact, that they form by far the majority amongst 

 them, good and inferior kinds, to grow in "tufts" which capacity 

 often prevents a meadow or lawn from being so thickly covered 

 as it both could and should be. It is on the other hand the minority 

 of the various grasses, which propagate by their roots creeping in 

 all directions and shooting forth new plants. 



The seedsman should therefore carefully see, that a good pro- 

 portion of varieties is being put in of the "creeping" -grasses. And 

 finally, and this again concerns the meadows and pasture-lands 

 alone, a wise and experienced judgement should guide him, where 

 it refers to putting into the mixtures a sufficient proportion of 

 both upper- (high-growing) and bottom- (short-growing) grasses. 

 We scarcely think, that the advantages of the latter advice require 

 any elucidiation to our readers. 



It is the place here to come back to a point referred to already 

 in this book, which is of great interest to the seedsman com- 

 posing his mixtures, and which may save him a good deal of 

 money, without at the same time reducing much the value of his 

 mixtures, at least of such of the average or cheaper kind: we 

 mean the place where we dwelt on the methods by which the 

 grass-seeds are harvested; the original way: by collection in fields 

 and meadows and the more modern way: that of growing the 

 various grass-seeds on purpose and separately as a crop. 



It must be clear to anybody, that the modern system, though 

 being a far more costly-one, carries with it the acquisition of fully- 



