564 AGRICULTURE. 



dry season the young plants may perish from drought, or in a 

 wet season the grain may lodge and smother the young grass. 

 Hence others recommend late summer or early fall seeding. A 

 writer in the Massachusetts Ploughman makes the following 

 statement : 



" The last half of August is generally considered the best time for seeding ; 

 earlier than this the weather is apt to be too hot for the ready germination of 

 the seed, and weeds will get a start before the grass. The first half of Sep- 

 tember is a good time, and we have sometimes had very good success with 

 seeding as late as October i, but would prefer to sow earlier if possible. If 

 rye is sown with the grass seed, it is best done about the middle of September ; 

 too much rye will choke the grass, but a light seeding of about one-half to 

 five-eighths of a bushel per acre will not injure the grass much, and will give a 

 much better return the next season than the grass alone. 



" Too little care is usually bestowed upon the preparation of the land for 

 seeding ; it should be worked only when just moist enough to make the lumps 

 crush easily, and should be harrowed repeatedly and rolled before sowing the 

 seed, then brushed and rolled again, which will leave the land in fine, smooth 

 order for the mowing-machine or scythe. 



" It is customary to mix Herds-grass, redtop, and clover seed in seeding, but 

 we prefer to seed high land with Herds-grass (Phleum pratense), only low, 

 moist land with redtop (Agrostis vulgaris) and fescue, and clover by itself in 

 the spring, for the reason that the season of maturity of these grasses is very 

 different; the clover should be cut about the I5th of June, while in blossom, 

 the Herds-grass about July I, and the redtop about July 15. When they are 

 mixed it will be impossible to cut them all in perfection ; and if the Herds- 

 grass is cut too early in dry weather, it is almost sure to be killed out." 



Cynodon Dactylon (Bermuda Grass). This is undoubtedly, 

 on the whole, the most valuable grass in the South. It is a 

 native of Southern Europe, and of all tropical countries. It is 

 a common pasture grass in the West Indies and the Sandwich 

 Islands, and has long been known in the United States, but the 

 difficulty of eradicating it when once established has retarded 

 its introduction into cultivation. Its value, however, is becom- 

 ing more appreciated now that more attention is being given 

 to grass and relatively less to cotton, and better methods and 

 implements of cultivation are being employed. Still, it seems 

 probable, from the reports received, that at the present time a 

 majority of farmers would prefer* not to have it on their farms. 

 It seeds very sparingly in the United States, and as the imported 

 seed is not always to be had, and is expensive and often of poor 



