CLOVER AND RYE-GRASS. 163 



Clover (red and Dutch) is more sowed here for hay than with 

 us, though it is much more difficult to make good hay of it in this 

 climate. It is sowed in the spring, as with us, perhaps 20 Ibs. to 

 the acre. We commonly sow 5 to 10 Ibs. Arthur Young tried 

 about a dozen experiments to ascertain the most profitable quan- 

 tity of clover seed to sow, and concluded his record of them as 

 follows : 



" The more seed, as far as 20 Ibs. per acre, undoubtedly the 

 better. This is a plain fact, contradicted by no part of the expe- 

 riment ; and the great inferiority of 5 to 7 Ibs. shows equally 

 clear that such portion of seed is too small for an acre. Where 

 land is well manured, less seed is required; 12 J Ibs. seems the 

 proper quantity" (on very rich, gravelly soil). 



A bushel of clover seed weighs 60 to 64 Ibs. 



In ground intended for mowing but one or two years, biennial 

 varieties of the rye-grass are sown, which are of stronger growth 

 than the perennial. They are also sowed sometimes with perma- 

 nent grasses, giving, on a deep, rich soil, a heavier burthen of 

 grass the first year of cutting than these would do. For this 

 purpose, I have thought it might be well to sow the biennial or 

 sub-perennial rye-grass seed with timothy, which does not usually 

 yield a fair crop at its first cutting, and have twice attempted to 

 make trial of the Italian rye-grass, but in both cases the seeds 

 that I had procured failed of germination. 



I may hereafter notice several species of herbage that are 

 much valued in England, that have not been generally introduced 

 in the United States.* 



The grass is mowed for hay for a longer or shorter course of 

 years ; sometimes broken up after one or two seasons, sometimes 

 becoming permanent or perennial pasture, and so running on in- 



* Fifteen or twenty varieties of grass seeds are sowed together, and the expense for seed 

 in laying down for pasture is often ten or twelve dollars an acre. 



