nOW TO GROW GOOD GRASSES. 93 



carefully sown ; then harrow with very light harrows 

 just to cover the seed, and roll again. 



By this plan you start the seeds in good soil instead 

 of in that from which you have carried off a crop of 

 ripened grass, straw, and seed ; hut besides this, your 

 grass will get a stronger constitution than when 

 grown as seedlings amid taller plants, which draw 

 up the " seeds," and thus make them so weak and 

 attenuated as scarcely to he able to withstand the 

 rigour of winter — a matter of great consequence when 

 our object is to get a vigorously-growing swarth 

 quickly. 



2. We come now to consider the kinds of seeds 

 which should be sown ; these, though few in number, 

 will yet vary according to soil and situation. 



Our remark that few kinds of grasses are required 

 in laying down for permanent pasture may surprise 

 those who have seen the usual prescriptions for this 

 purpose ; but if we start in our selection by leaving 

 out coarse grasses, — such, for instance, as Phalaris 

 canariensis (Reed Canary Grass), for damp meadows; 

 annual forms, or at least not permanent ones, such 

 as Lolkim Itallcum (Italian Rye-grass) ; and useless 

 varieties, as JPoa nemomlis sempervirens, Phleum 

 pratensc majus, and the like, — we shall be then con- 

 fined to as few species of grass as we shall ever find 

 will form the best parts of our best meadows. 



Now, as regards sowing useless or annual species, 

 we should recollect that the better they come up the 

 more mischief they create, as they take up the room 

 that the more permanent forms should occupy, and 

 so smother them out. How often have we seen our 

 friends in ecstasies at the success of their new pasture, 

 when the smiling face had been suddenly put upon 



