CULTIVATION OF GRASSES. 233 



grasses, should be selected, yet so scanty Is our assort- 

 ment, that we can only name timothy and herds-grass. 



II. Meadows. These may be classed under three 

 heads : viz., low or alluvial lands, on the banks of riv- 

 ers, creeks, and brooks ; uplands naturally moist, or of 

 clay or heavy loam ; and reclaimed bogs and swamps. 

 These soils, to adopt a common term, are natural to 

 grasses^ while the expense of tillage, and the uncertainty 

 of a crop, render it most proper to appropriate them to 

 grass. The objects, in stocking meadows, are, to select 

 those grasses which yield the greatest burden of hay ^ and 

 afford the most nutriment for cattle. When mixed seeds 

 are employed, care should be taken to select those which 

 can be most profitably cut at the same time. The impro- 

 priety of mixing timothy and orchard-grass, for instance, 

 will be apparent, from observing that the last should be 

 cut in the latter end of June, while the former continues 

 to improve till the first of August. Timothy is undoubt- 

 edly the best grass which we can employ for meadows, 

 on moist or tenacious soils. Herds-grass, and rough-stalk- 

 ed meado'^-grass, often come in spontaneously. And if 

 the timothy is left standing until its seeds have formed, 

 seeds enough fall to supply new plants. 



For light loams ^ sands ^ and gravels, the tall oat and 

 orchard grasses are probably the best ; and to these may 

 be added red and white clover. 



The great difficulty is, to prevent the deterioration of 

 meadows. This takes place from the better grasses run- 

 ning out, and giving place to coarser kinds, to mosses, and 

 to useless and noxious plants ; aided, often, by a neglect 

 to keep them well drained. 



Hence it is of the first importance to keep the surface 

 soil free from standing water, by good and sufficient 

 drains ; and it often becomes necessary, and in most cases 

 advisable, on a flat surface, to lay the land in narrow 

 ridges, at right angles with the ditches. Another precau- 

 tion to be observed is, not to depasture them with heavy 

 cattle when the ground is wet and poachy. Harrowing in 

 the fall has been found beneficial to meadows. It destroys 

 mosses, covers the seeds of grasses which have fallen, 

 20* 



