63 



much of the ground uncovered. This may be obviate.d by thick Heeding, 

 2i or, better, 3 bushels of seed per acre. The gaps may be prevented by 

 with it a few pounds of rerltop seed. But as the latter multiplies annually from 

 seeds dropping, it would in a few years root out the orchard grass. In common with 

 many others I prefer red clover with orchard grass. It fills the gaps and matures at 

 the same time with the orchard grass ; the mixture makes good pasture and good hay; 

 but if mowed more than twice a year, or grazed too soon after the second mowing, 

 the clover will rapidly fail. One peck of red clover seed and 6 pecks of orchard 

 grass seed is good proportion per acre. 



After being cut it has been found to grow 4 inches in less than three days. Sheep 

 leave all other grasses if they can find this, and acre for acre it will sustain twice as 

 many sheep or other stock as Timothy. Cut at the proper age it makes a much bet- 

 ter hay than Timothy, and is greatly preferred by animals, being easier to masticate, 

 digest, and assimilate; iu fact more like green grass in flavor, tenderness, and solu- 

 bility. 



Mr. J. S. Gould, of New York, says : 



The 1 testimony that has been collected from all parts of the world for two centuries 

 past establishes the place of this species among the very best of our forage grasses, 

 and we have not a shadow of a doubt that the interests of our graziers and dairymen 

 would be greatly promoted by its more extended cultivation. It is always found in 

 the rich old pastures of England, where an acre of land can be relied on to fatten a 

 bullock and four sheep. It is admirably adapted for growing in the shade, no grass 

 being equal to it in this respect, except the rough-stalked meadow grass (Poa tri- 

 vialis). It receives the name of orchard grass from this circumstance. We have 

 seen it growing in great luxuriance in dense old New England orchards, where no 

 other grass except Poa trivialis would grow at all. It affords a good bite earlier iu 

 the spring than any other grass except the meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis). 

 It affords a very great amount of aftermath, being exceeded in this respect by no 

 other grass except Kentucky blue grass (Poa pratensis), and it continues to send out 

 root-leaves until very late in the autumn. When sown with other grasses its tend- 

 ency to form tussocks is very much diminished ; indeed it is always unprofitable to 

 sow it alone in meadows or pastures, as it stands too thin upon the ground to make a 

 profitable use of the land, and the filling up of the interspaces with other varieties 

 greatly improves the quality of the orchard grass by restraining its rankness and 

 making it more delicate. 



From Col man's Rural World : 



Orchard grass makes good winter pasturage, equally as good as blue grass, and far 

 better pasturage in seasons of drought than blue grass, as it is a deeper and larger- 

 rooted plant and resists drought better. When once established it can be fed as 

 closely as any other grass, and is no harder on laud than any other. Indeed, land 

 pastured in orchard grass will continue to improve in fertility. If half of each of 

 our farms were well seeded to orchard grass it would be a great advantage to them. 



From the Farmer's Home Journal : 



This is one of the most valuable of all the grasses, and is better adapted to the 

 South than any other with which we are acquainted. Its rapidity of growth aud 

 the luxuriance of its aftermath, its power of enduring drought and the cropping of 

 cattle, commended it highly to the farmer, especially as a pasture grass, and ii 

 rapidly growing in favor. It starts earlier in the spring, and continues growing 

 later in the fall, and starts again more quickly after being cut, than any other grass, 

 thus furnishing both the earliest and latest grazing. Orchard grass is less exhans 

 ing to the soil than Timothy. It will endure considerable shade. In a porous si 

 soil its fibrous roots extend to a great depth. It does well on any soil of ev.-n n 

 erate fertility which is not too wet for grass, and will grow aud thrive where no othj 



