82 



SEEDING OP LANDS TO GRASS. 



food obtainable for the purpose, offers a ready and 

 effectual means of meeting the increasing difficulty. 

 By having the cows housed, and cutting the grass for 

 them, and by adopting all the means for its cultiva- 

 tion which would thus be available, half a rod of 

 land, if not less, would suffice to maintain a cow- 

 throughout the year, with a comparatively small ad- 

 dition of winter dry food. 



Some few years ago the ability of this grass to en- 

 dure drouth came for several months of a very dry 

 summer under our observation ; and was the more 

 noticeable because of that time little or none had 

 been grown in the district, and the owner of the land 

 was thought to be far gone in agricultural hallucina- 

 tion to select so singular a course of seeding. The 

 land was a light shallow loam, at all times perfectly 

 dry, laying on the porous schale of the magnesian 

 lime stone, at not more than from six to eight inches 

 from the surface. The seed was sown with the bar- 

 ley crop in the usual way, and without any admi.xture 

 of other grasses. After the barley crop was taken 

 off the young seeds increased rapidly in strength, and 

 afforded some excellent pasturage for sheep that fall; 

 care being taken not to injure them by overstocking. 

 In the following spring the field exhibited a most 

 promising and luxuriant appearance, long before any 

 of its neighbors shewed signs of returning vigor, and 

 sheep were turned into it much earlier than common: 

 as the season advanced both cattle and sheep were 

 put in, and although the summer was very dry, the 

 great amount of stock which this crop carried, 

 throughout the whole season, was the astonishment of 

 all who witnessed the experiment, and set an example 

 to the district that was neither forgotten or neglected. 



There are two or three descriptions of rye-grass, 

 and therefore it is the more necessary to impress upon 

 those who may be disposed to try its cultivation, that 

 it is the kind commonly known as the Italian, which 

 should be sown ; none of the others possessing, in 

 anything like the same degree, the properties and 

 qualities of the Italian. If there be any difficulty in 

 procuring the proper kind, or any doubt about its 

 being true, the most certain plan would be to import 

 it from England ; and if through the medium of the 

 seedsmen to the Royal Agricultural Society of En- 

 gland, (Messrs. Gibbs & Co., Half-moon Corner, Lon- 

 don,) so much the more certainly would the best and 

 truest quality be secured. In conclusion, it may be 

 added that it is an essential element in the successful 

 cultivation of this grass, that the land be in good 

 condition and free from weeds. 



Hamilton, C. W., 1855. 



SEEDING OF LANDS TO GRASS. 



Mb. Editor: — The seeding of lands to grass, to pro- 

 duce the best return to the farmer, is a subject of 

 great interest. Involved in it, are several questions, 

 on which various opinions arc held by our best prac- 

 tical farmers. Some, of them are as follows: 



The best preparation of the soil — the best kinds 

 of grass to cultivate, also their judicious mixture— 

 the quantity of seed required per acre — the best sea- 

 son of the year for sowing, &c. 



Now, I do not believe that any more definite rules 

 can be given to guide the curUvator of the soil in 

 this branch of agriculture, than can be given on va- 

 rious other subjects, respecting which, our science, wise 

 writers have assumed to instruct the practical farmer, 

 but whose instructions, experience has often falsified. 



The various soils, climates, localities, and wants of 

 the farmer, would modify or change any general rules 

 which might be given, and I aver that no man who 

 has not had experience or observation in all the va- 

 rious sections of our country, can write understand- 

 ingly in giving systems of farming applicable to those 

 sections. Enlightened experience is the best teacher, 

 and from that mainly must the farmer deduce his sys- 

 tem of practice. But each farmer may [permit us to 

 say, should. — En.] communicate hisexperience through 

 the press for the benefit of his brother farmers, and 

 thereby they can mutually instruct one another. 



My experience in seeding lands to grass, has been 

 mainly in a calcareous wheat soil, and where hay is 

 not a principal object ; still the aggregate amount of 

 seeding may be much greater than in a grass country, 

 as the operation is much more frequently performed. 



The best preparation for seeding, is a well cultiva- 

 ted winter-wheat field, summer fallowed, plowed early 

 in the season, and soil thoroughly pulverized, or land 

 which has been left perfectly clean by a spring crop. 

 A reversed sod will not seed well; neither must grass 

 sods, or roots, be left unsubdued. 



Red clover and timothy are the kinds of seeds most 

 used. Ten pounds of clover seed per acre may be 

 sown in the month of March, or early in April, before 

 spring frosts have ceased to affect the soil. I thitdc 

 the best proportion of seeds, and time of sowing, is 

 from four to six quarts of timothy sown with the 

 clover, if not sown the fall previous. 



Some farmers object to sowing early in the fall, be- 

 lieving the grass will choke the wheat, which in moist 

 soils where grass grows and spreads rapidly may be 

 the case. In my own practice I prefer fall sowing. 



Sow a bushel of gypsum per acre in the latter part 

 of April, or early in May, on all new seeded land& 



