18 DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



case before the fall rains come. (If a heavy rain falls on the ashes before seeding, 

 it forms when it dries a thin skin, which prevents many of the seeds germinating 

 and leaves them exposed to the birds.) The grass or clover seeds should therefore 

 be bought in May or June. If they are sown, say, about the end of August or middle 

 of September, the clearing will be green within a week after the first rain. Many 

 people think it better to put off sowing the seed until the following spring, as they 

 think the young clover is liable to be killed out by frost in the winter ; the writer 

 has tried it both ways and unhesitatingly says, seed in the early fall. There is 

 rarely any frost here to hurt clover when it is once rooted, and although the young 

 clover may be killed out in spots if there happens to be a particularly severe winter 

 (that is, severe for British Columbia), this will very rarely happen, and if the seed 

 gets a good start in the fall it will mean a good pasture the next year, while if the 

 seeding is delayed till spring the pasture is nowhere near as good. 



The kind of seed used would depend to some extent on the kind of soil and how 

 long it is intended to wait before ploughing or stumping is done. Anything to be 

 ploughed or stumped within the next twelve months after burning should not, of 

 course, be seeded at all. If it is intended to use the land for pasture for two or 

 three years only before ploughing and stumping, the best mixture to use is 5 Ib. of 

 timothy, 8 Ib. of medium red clover, and about 2 Ib. of Kentucky blue-grass. The 

 red clover dies out in from two to four years, but if the ground is ploughed before 

 it dies out it is a very valuable fertilizer when ploughed in, being rich in nitrogen. 

 If it is intended not to plough or stump the ground for five years or longer, then 

 leave out the red clover entirely and use 5 Ib. timothy, 2 Ib. orchard-grass or cocks- 

 foot, 3 Ib. small white clover, and 3 Ib. Kentucky blue-grass or red-top. In low 

 damp places put mostly timothy and no small white clover, and on the higher and 

 drier ground put very little timothy and all the white clover. The other grasses 

 may all be sown in either situation. Be sure and get clean seed, the very best is 

 none too good; and while on this subject it might not be out of place to remind 

 the new settler that the highest standard of excellence should always be aimed at. 

 Try and do every part of the clearing, fencing, buildings, drainage, etc., right up 

 to the " top notch," even if it does cost a dollar or two more or take a little longer ; 

 do it right once and it will never have to be done over again. The best is always 

 the cheapest in the long run. 



DOING THINGS THOROUGHLY. 



Many people say, " This will do temporarily ; by and by I will fix it " ; but " by 

 and by " never comes, and in nine cases out of ten that man goes on patching and 

 repairing to the end of the chapter and never has a decent farm or good 'fence. He 

 will often lose in one year the cost of a new fence through his neighbour's cattle 

 getting in or his own cattle getting out. 



When the seeding is finished and the rotten logs are broken up and burnt, the 

 next thing is to pick and brand up the small logs and charred ends left from the 

 fire. Two or three months' chopping in the spring, if you have a good burn in 

 August, should not mean more than three or four weeks' branding-up in the fall, 

 and this would include sawing all fir logs into 12-foot lengths. Wherever possible, 

 these small logs and loose ends should be piled against a stump or rotten log. Chop 

 everything into lengths that can be easily handled; use the heaviest pieces as a 

 foundation for the pile ; pack them in close and lay all the sticks parallel ; do not 

 have any cross-sticks, but pile them as closely as possible and top off with any old 

 roots and rubbish that are loose and can be easily pulled up by hand. Don't waste 

 time pulling and straining at anything which does not come easily. What is fast 

 now will be loose next year and will probably plough out by the time you are ready 

 to plough. Any small rotten fir logs which were too wet to burn in September can 

 also be piled, as this is a very easy way to get rid of them. All big fir logs, of 

 whatever degree of rottenness or soundness, if not previously broken up with a 



