agriculture and horticulture. 183 



Seeding Grass Lands with vs. without a Nurse Crop. 



That grass lands can be seeded, when known to be perfectly 

 free from weed seeds, without a nurse or protective crop, and 

 with the best of results, there is no question. We quote from 

 experiments carried on ])j Henry at the Wisconsin Experi- 

 ment Station, in order to impress the importance of thor- 

 ough cultivation as well as to show under what conditions 

 success is assured. 



* "1. The land must be quite free from weed seeds. If 

 there are many weed seeds in the ground, these can be de- 

 stroyed by summer-fallowing or by 'freshing' the ground sev- 

 eral times before the grass seeds are sown. It positively will 

 not do to sow grass where the ground is foul with weed seeds. 



"2. The land should possess at least fair fertility in order 

 to produce early springing and rapid growth of the young 

 grass plants from the very beginning. 



"3. The land must be very carefully prepared. In this 

 there is nothing but gain to the husbandman by doing his 

 work well. Every inch of the soil should be gone over again 

 and again, and the surface rendered as smooth as a table and 

 as fine as an onion bed. We have been very careless in the 

 past in regard to the proper treatment of grass lands, and 

 must improve in the future if we desire the heavy crops 

 possible. 



"4. It is well to sow large quantities of grass seed — two or 

 three times the usual amount. In seeding, the field should 

 be crossed both ways, if possible, so as to insure entire absence 

 of skips or breaks in the evenness of the young sward. 



"5. It is probably best, although we have not fully demon- 

 strated the fact, to sow grass and clover seed very early in the 

 spring time. Our returns for the present year, and those of 

 some of our student correspondents, show the beneficial effects 

 of very early seeding. 



"6. Finally, a matter of much importance is that of check- 

 ing the growth of weeds, which will annoy more or less in 

 spite of all precautions. There being no grain crop to check 



* Thu-teentii Annual Report Wis. Agricultural Experiment Station. 1S96. 



