MANAGEMENT OF PASTURES. 89 



at depths of one inch and two inches did not produce a 

 single plant that reached the surface. (3) When grass 

 seed is sown by falling from the plants themselves and 

 germinates thus, it is lying on a firm surface in which 

 the moisture from the soil below rises to the surface. If 

 it lies on a loose surface it will not be moistened from 

 below, will dry up after every shower, and so will perish. 

 A good example of this is often seen when the seed sown on 

 a harrowed field strikes much best in the horses' hoof marks. 

 (4) When grass seed is sown on a loose or harrowed surface 

 and then harrowed in, a large number of seeds must fall and 

 be shaken through the crevices in the soil to the depths of 

 one inch or more. This is specially true with the smaller 

 and more compact seeds such as Timothy, and the quantity 

 of seed thus lost must be very great. It is for this reason 

 that in computing the numbers for the last column in Table 

 II., double as many seeds per acre were allowed for the 

 grasses with small seeds easily buried, as for those with large 

 seeds that are unlikely to fall below germinating depth. 



It would thus seem that an ideal condition for sowing 

 grass seed would be to finish the cultivation of the field by 

 rolling, then sow the seed, and then cover it as lightly as 

 possible. If the land were finished with the Cambridge 

 roller the seed would tend to fall into the little ridges formed 

 by the roller, and if then a brush harrow consisting of a 

 few boughs were dragged over the land the ridges would 

 be rubbed down to fill the hollows. No seed would be lost 

 through burying, it would receive moisture from below and 

 so would germinate. It would be covered from birds, and 

 the light powdering of soil above it would tend to reduce to 

 some extent loss of water by evaporation. 



In certain districts, however, where heavy rains usually 

 follow seeding time, and where the land cakes badly, this plan 

 of sowing after the roller is inadvisable. In such a case the 



