208 , BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



In seeding lands for pastures, I would sow almost every 

 kind of grass that grows, so as to get a succession of grasses 

 through the season ; and I would seed mowing-lands with 

 several kinds of those grasses that ripen about the same time. 

 Somebody has remarked that the grasses are social in their 

 habits of growth, and I believe this to be true. There is no 

 one kind of grass that I know of that will occupy the whole 

 of the soil ; but if you sow two kinds there will be less of it 

 unoccupied than there will be with only one kind ; and if 3'ou 

 sow three kinds, you have still less of the soil unoccupied. 

 This is the same view I presented to the meeting at Barre, 

 last winter, I believe, — that we ought to sow more kinds of 

 grass-seed ; and I will assure any farmer who will try it, that 

 this summer-fallowing is not a loss of a season. It may seem 

 so, and I know that a good many farmers think that a sum- 

 mer-fallow is a summer lost, that a piece of land fallowed is 

 lost ; but I regard it otherwise, and I think any one of 3^ou 

 who tries the experiment will find that the summer is not 

 lost, but it will give you a growth of grass that will be aston- 

 ishing for several years to come. 



Mr. Flint told me that in opening this discussion, I might 

 suggest as little or as much as I pleased. Now, I have said 

 as much as I desired to say. The subject is open for you, 

 and I hope you will discuss it " with the spirit and with the 

 understanding also." 



Mr. KiLBURN, of Lunenburg. I like the suggestion made 

 by the last speaker, that, in sowing grass-seed, we should 

 sow those kinds that ripen about the same time. We have 

 had a good deal of trouble with our different grass-fields, by 

 having the grasses ripen at different times through the spring 

 and summer. Some kinds will get ripe and shed their seeds 

 before the main growth of the grass is fit to cut. Take, for 

 example, the sweet-scented vernal grass, spear-grass, or 

 what is sometimes called Kentucky blue-grass, and two or 

 three other kinds ; the Danthonia sjncata, for instance, which 

 is sometimes called white-top, and sometimes has other 

 names. That, if cut early, makes very good hay ; but, if it 

 is cut late, it is not better than the straw of grain that has 

 been threshed, and it frequently gets ripe before the later 

 grasses are fit to cut ; red-top l)eing one of the latest, timo- 



