GRASSES, GRAINS, AND PLANTS. 563 



To this may be added Italian rye-grass, four pounds, and the 

 same amount of fescue-grass if preferred, but the other is ordi- 

 narily sufficient- This quantity is a heavy seeding for one acre. 

 The blue-grass will not be seen much at first, but by the time 

 the clover dies out it will have taken hold of > the entire surface. 

 A writer in the New England Farmer recommends the fol- 

 lowing formula for a permanent pasture : 



Early varieties 



Red clover 10 pounds. 



Alsike clover 5 " 



Orchard-grass I bushel. 



June-grass I " 



Perennial rye-grass I " 



Late varieties 



Herds-grass \ " 



R. I. bent-grass \ " 



Redtop i 



This forms an unusually heavy seeding, and probably the 

 quantities may be advantageously reduced, but the combination 

 presents a variety that will give a succession from early till late 

 in the season. 



The more common mixture for meadows is as follows, per 

 acre : 



Redtop i bushel. 



Timothy " 



Red clover 4 pounds. 



On high lands, orchard-grass might be substituted for the 

 redtop. 



Time and Manner of Seeding Grass Seed. There has been 

 much diversity of opinion as to the proper time of seeding land 

 to grass. A very common practice has been to sow the seed in 

 the spring with a grain crop, generally of oats. If the season 

 is favorable, this method succeeds very well, having the advan- 

 tage of no loss in the regular crops of the land. The growing 

 grain furnishes to the young grass shelter and shade from the 

 heat of the sun, and after the removal of the crop the grass 

 spreads, and sometimes the same season furnishes a light crop 

 for the scythe or some grazing for the cattle. But the success 

 of this plan of seeding is not by any means certain. In a very 



