212 



Grass Seeds. 



Vol. hi. 



means of distinctly ascertaining and making 

 known the habits and properties oi' all sorts 

 of grain. 



[To be continued.] 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Obsei'vation§ on Cirass Seeds- 



" All flesh is grass." 



A very knowing man gave it as his opinion, 

 " that whoever could make two cars of corn, 

 or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot 

 of ground where only one grew before, would 

 deserve better of mankind, and do more es- 

 sential service to his country, than the whole 

 race of politicians put together." Now al- 

 though the mass of noisy politicians, who wish 

 to fatten, not by making grass or corn grow, 

 but by lugging fiercely at the public teat, may 

 incline to controvert this opinion, yet it is pre- 

 sumed that the plain, honest, industrious 

 farmers of our country, who gain a livelihood 

 by close attention to agricultural pursuits 

 will incline to think favorably of it. Being 

 myself a believer in the opinion, has induced 

 me to take up my pen, with a view of point- 

 ing out to my friends and neighbors, what 

 may be done this spring towards accomplish- 

 ing so desirable an object. 

 :^^ It is now universally admitted that neither 

 grass nor grain or indeed any plant whatever 

 can be produced without seed; and that 

 whenever we wish to produce any particular 

 plant we must sow or plant the proper seed 

 to produce it. In sowing the seeds of the 

 artificial grasses, it should be borne in mind, 

 that you will not have more spears or grass 

 plants than the number of seeds sown, and 

 not even that number, for more or ]e.«s of 

 thcin, from various causes will fail to vege- 

 tate or be destroyed. If it is desired to have 

 the plants numerous the seeds must be thick- 

 ly dispersed ; it is true many seed co.«t more 

 than a few, but then the object being to obtain 

 a full crop of grass, this can only be obtained 

 by being liberal in the application of seed; lot 

 those w!io wish only a very moderate return of 

 grass, sow the seed thin, very thin, and they 

 will accomplish the object; tiiey may have 

 the plants six inches or a foot distant from 

 each other if they are careful to put the seeds 

 far enougli apart. 



Being desirous of ascertaining the number 

 of seeds of the kinds usuiJly sown vvliich 

 would fill a bushel measure, I recently 

 caused to be accurately weighed the one 

 sixteenth part of an ounce avoirdupois of the 

 kinds designated below ; the seeds in each 

 parcel were then carefully counted, from 

 which it was ascertained the number of them 

 contained in a pound, and also tlie number 

 contained in a bushel, the weight of which 

 was known. The seeds were all perfectly 



clean, and the best of their kind, being pro- 

 cured of George M. Coates, in Market .street, 

 Philadelphia. 



Timothy seed rated at 40 lbs. per bushel, 



the number of seeds contained in a 



bushel is 60,000,320 



Red clover seed, ^American) 60 lbs. per 



bushel 24,084,480 



Dutch red clover seed, imported, 60 lbs. 



per bushel 16,819,200 



Dutrli white cluver seed, imported, 60 lbs. 



pir pushel, 43,929,600 



Orchard grass seed, 12 lbs. per bushel, 5,818,368 



The imported red Dutch clover seed was 

 considerably larger than tlie American, and 

 it will be perceived that the latter contains 

 about fifty per cent, more seeds to the bushel 

 than the former, and consequently it would 

 take a bushel and an half of the Dutch seed 

 to furnish as many plants as one bushel of the 

 American. 



It" has been a very general error amongst 

 our farmers to sow grass seeds too sparingly, 

 thereby leaving much of the ground unoccu- 

 pied, or filled with weeds, which v;ill inevi- 

 tably be the case where the soil is fertile, and 

 grass seed has been applied with a parsimo- 

 nious hand. A very small share of common 

 sen.se observation, and a little arithmetical 

 calculation will correct this pernicious and 

 impoverishing error. An acre of land con- 

 tains 4b?40 square yards, or 43,560 square 

 feet, or if brought to square inches, 6,272,040 

 spaces, each of one inch square, is equal to 

 one acre. If clover seed is sown evenly at 

 the rate of 7-^ lbs. or the eighth of a bushel 

 per acre, it would produce about three mil- 

 lion of plants, provided tiiey generally vege- 

 tated, which would allow each plant about 

 two square inches of space ibr its accommo- 

 dation. But it must be recollected that there 

 is always a considerable loss of seed occa- 

 sioned by its being imperfectly ripened, from 

 its having been heated, or by its being buried 

 in situations unfavorable to its growth, or 

 other causes, so that ample allowance shcnld 

 always be made to guard again.^t contin- 

 gencies of every kind. From the data'fur- 

 nislied above it will be easy to make a calcu- 

 lation in regard to any of the seeds enume- 

 rated, so as to operate as a guide to those who 

 don't desire to give their grass plants more 

 elbow room than may be necessary to promote 

 their proper growth and expansion and the 

 farmers true and most permanent intero.-?!. 



Agkicola. 



The man who thinks himself so rich that 

 he can afford to neglect his aflliirs and throw 

 away his money, is not fir from want, how- 

 ever great his c.-^t;itc may be. But time is, at 

 onci^ the most valuable and most peridiable 

 of all our po.<5.=e.-sioti? ; when lost it can never 

 be retrieved. — Randolph, 



