No. 4.] THE IIAV CROP. 367 



mellow. The quantity of seed used should be rather larger 

 than may be required when it is sown alone, as a part of it 

 fails to reach the ground, being caught and retained by the 

 broad leaves of the corn. Dog-day weather should be selected 

 for sowing the seed ; and if it can be scattered upon the freshly 

 cultivated surface Just before the heavy showers which occur 

 so frequently during dog-days, the seed will need no covering, 

 and will often have germinated within forty-eight hours from 

 the time of sowing. The shade of tlie corn crop is favorable 

 to the retention of moisture, and on all except the driest soils 

 there will be moisture enough to keep the young plants grow- 

 ing. Tlie corn protects from the sun, but does not crowd. 

 It is not likely to lodge and stifle the young grass, as a crop of 

 small grain so .often does. It is preferable that the seeding be 

 done in a crop of corn destined for the silo. This being car- 

 ried from the field at once, the grass has the most favorable 

 time of the year to spread and gather strength for the winter. 

 If the corn is grown for grain and must be stooked, there is no 

 great difficulty; but the young plants will be killed where the 

 stooks stand, and these spots must be reseeded either late in 

 autumn or early the following spring. Grass and clover sown 

 in accordance with the method just described become fully 

 established before Avinter, and are less liable to injury than 

 when sown later. They become sufficiently strong to give a 

 full crop the following year. It is best that the corn be cut 

 low, and the field sliould be rolled the following spring as soon 

 as it becomes sufficiently firm not to be cut up by horses. 

 Rolling at that time breaks down the corn stubble, which is 

 then brittle, and it will be noticed in the hay to a less extent 

 even than is the stubble of a small grain.* 



When land is seeded in corn, the Avork must be done by 

 hand ; but if the field be clear, there are a number of nui- 

 chines which will do satisfactory work. INlachines of the 

 type of Gaboon's broadcast seed sower will put in any of 

 the seed mixtures which have been given. One objection 

 to machines of this class is the fact that the seed is tlirown 

 hi<2:h into the air, so that satisfactory work can be done only 

 \vhen the weather is relatively calm. The wheelbarrow seed 

 sowers will do somewhat more even and satisfactory work, 



* Brooks's Agriculture, Vol. II., p. 426. 



