TALL OAT GRASS. 39 



quickness of growth and its earliness and lateness. 

 I have sown the Oat grass on wheat in the fall, made 

 a good crop of wheat, and late in the fail have mown 

 a fair crop of hay from the same land. Orchard 

 grass always takes two years to make a full crop, 

 while Oat grass sown in the fall on good land will 

 make a crop of hay the next summer. It has also 

 the advantage over orchard grass in seeding. It 

 may be sown either in the spring or fall, while or- 

 chard grass in this climate must always be sown in 

 the spring." 



I think the fall is the best time to sow the Oat grass 

 but it can be sown either in the spring or fall, with 

 almost a certainty of getting a set, as it very rarely 

 fails. Notwithstanding these two advantages over 

 the orchard grass, it is not as valuable a grass, it 

 never forms as thick and compact a sod as orchard 

 grass. It is more liable to injury from drought. It 

 must never be lelt one day after it blooms, if you 

 want first class hay, and a rain will injure the looks 

 of Oat grass three times as much as it will injure 

 orchard grass or timothy. If, however, it is cut and 

 handled right, it makes beautiful hay. If cut early 

 and the summer is not an excessively dry one it will 

 head twice in the same summer. I consider the Oat 

 grass a more valuable grass than timothy, as it 

 is not nearly as exhaustive to the soil and if properly 

 handled will make as good hay and twice as much 

 of it 



In reply to enquiries Mr. T. B. Baker, Thorndale, 

 Chester Co., Pa., writes me, March, 1875: "In the 

 spring of 1863, on two acres of good ground I sowed 

 four bushels of Oat grass seed and mixed with usual 

 quantity of barley and both drilled with the ordinary 



