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clover should be sown or not. An observing and experienced 

 farmer, who has given much attention to the cultivation of 

 grasses, is of opinion that, in the immediate vicinity of the 

 capital or a large town, from which manure is brought to the 

 farm, there will be in general sufficient clover seed in the ma- 

 nure ; but farther off, he advises to sow from six to eight lbs. 

 to an acre. He likewise insists upon sowing at the rate of at 

 least half a bushel of herdsgrass seed, and an equal quantity of 

 redtop. I have great respect for his authority, as his crops 

 have measured more than four and a half tons to the acre of 

 well-made hay, upon his best lands. The farmers in Essex 

 county, as may be seen by my first report, who were in the 

 practice of omitting to sow clover when they laid down their 

 lands to grass, have returned to the practice — as otherwise, they 

 say, they get a comparatively inferior first crop. 



Much discussion has been had as to the time of sowing grass 

 seed, whether with the grain in the spring, or in the fall after 

 the crop is taken off, sowing it by itself as early in September 

 as it can well be got in. The latter method is, by the best far- 

 mers, almost universally preferred. It gives them an additional 

 ploughing, but this is compensated by the ploughing in the stub- 

 ble as manure, and in general the better manner in which the grass 

 takes. The grass seed sowed with the small grain in the spring 

 often perishes by the heat of the sun after the grain crop is re- 

 moved : in September the temperature becomes moderated 

 and the usual autumnal rains give the young plants a favorable 

 start. In such cases, where the herdsgrass and redtop are sow- 

 ed in the fall, some persons prefer sowing their clover on the 

 same in the spring, as the young clover plants are more likely 

 than the others to be killed by the severity of the winter. 



The tall meadow oat (avena elatior) has been cultivated in 

 the county. This grass is not familiar to our farmers, but the 

 success which has attended its cultivation encourages its exten- 

 sion. A Virginia farmer of the highest authority speaks of it, 

 after fifteen years' experience, as a hardy plant bearing drought 

 and frost, heat and cold, better than any other grass known to 

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