26 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



me the inefficacy of sowing grass seed in spring with grain ; 

 it was a custom imported with the ancestors of the country 

 from old England, where the cloudy summers and moist 

 climate will warrant a practice Avhich, under our clear sky 

 and powerful sun, is altogether unsuitable. I must add that 

 grass sown in the fall imperiously requires to be rolled in 

 the spring as soon as the gTound is in fit order ; otherwise 

 the small plants, slightly rooted yet, and heaved up by the 

 frost, will suffer much, perhaps total destruction ; and truly, 

 among the many uses to which the roller may be applied, 

 none, perhaps, would be more valuable than to roll all grass 

 lands in spring. The plants suffer from the wind and from 

 the heat, and this being the case more or less every spring, 

 it must necessarily bring on a permature decay, which the 

 yearly use of the roller at that season might prevent.' 



We cannot reconcile these authorities ; but it is probable 

 that both in fall and spring sowing of grass seeds there may 

 be successful and unfavourable results, according to circum- 

 stances of soil, season, &lq,. Fall sown grass seeds are 

 liable to be winter-killed, or destroyed by frost ; spring so\vn 

 grass seeds may perish by drought and heat. But, when- 

 ever sown, there will be less danger either from frost or 

 drought, if the seed is well covered with a harrow, and the 

 ground pressed on it with a roller. 



Young's Farmer's Calendar, under the date of August, 

 says, ' This is the best season of the whole j^ear for laying 

 down land to grass ; and no other is admissible for it on 

 strong, wet, or heavy soils. Spring sowings with grain may 

 succeed, and do often, but that they are hazardous I know 

 from forty years' experience.' 



There is likewise a great difference of opinion as respects 

 the quantity of seed to be sown when land is laid down to 

 grass. Sir John Sinclair says, ' It is a great error, in laying 

 land down to grass, to sow an insufficient quantity of seeds. 

 In general, twelve or fourteen pounds of clover is the usual 

 average allowance. But that quantity, it is contended, ought 

 greatly to be increased, and in many cases doubled.' The 

 Farmer's Assistant tells us that ' the quantity of red clover 

 seed to be sown on the acre is about fourteen pounds, and 

 none but clean seed ought to be sown.' 



The ' jMemoirs of the Board of Agriculture of the State 

 of New York,' vol. ii. p. 30, in giving an account of the 

 methods of culture adopted by farmers in Rensselaer coun- 

 ty, state that ' Farmers differ in opinion in regard to the 



