20 



Cultivation of the Grasses and 



supposed that blue-grass will not succeed at 

 the South. 



It has been sown on land that is too poor. 

 It requires a soil naturally or artificially rich. 



Because it is burned up in a dry summer, it 

 is concluded that it is a failure, and is 

 ploughed up. In Kentucky and in Ohio, 

 blue-grass frequently becomes so dry in the 

 summer that it would burn up, if set on fire. 

 But as soon as the cool weather and the rains 

 of autumn set in, it resumes its green color 

 and renews its growth. The same result will 

 occur in the cotton States. 



It may be remarked in passing, that all the 

 winter grasses stop their growth and turn 

 more or less yellow during the dry heat of 

 summer at the South. This is to be expected. 

 Everything which grows, animal or vegeta- 

 ble, must have a period of sleep or rest. The 

 grass which grows at the North during the 

 summer, rests during the winter. The con- 

 verse is true. The grass which grows at the 

 South during the winter, must rest during the 

 summer. Hence, winter grasses at the South 

 should not be pastured during the summer, 

 but should be left with a covering of their 

 own leaves to shield them from the heat of 

 the sun, and make the sleep of the roots com- 

 fortable. 



The third mistake in the cultivation of blue- 

 grass arises from an ignorance of the habits 

 of the plant. When it first comes up it is as 

 fine as a needle, hardly visible to the most 

 carefni inspection. It increases its size but 

 little during the first summer. Even the next 

 year the stand will seem to be imperfect. But 

 in the third and fourth year it spreads like 

 magic, and occupies the whole ground. When 

 a man goes into the lot on which he has sowed 

 blue-grass seed, finds month after month no 

 blue-grass, but a crop of weeds as high as his 

 head, he concludes that it is a failure, ploughs 

 up the ground, and next spring puts it in 

 cotton. 



If a piece of ground be made very rich, and 

 good blue-grass seed be sowed upon it, there 

 will be no failure. Give it time and it will 

 take possession of the ground, even though it 

 be invisible the first year. 



On account of its slow' maturity, blue-grass 

 seed should never be sowed by itself. It 

 should be mixed with red and white clover, 

 meadow-oat and orchard grass. These will 

 occupy the ground at once, and the blue-grass 

 will advance slowly, but in the end will whip 

 the whole of them out, except the white clover. 

 For this reason blue-grass should never be 

 sowed with grasses designed for permanent 

 meadow, as it will be certain finally to root 

 them out. 



On very rich land, blue-grass will make hay 

 excellent in quality, but small in quantity. Its 

 chief value is for winter pasture. While they 

 last, meadow-oat and orchard grass are much 

 superior to it. But the permanence of blue- 



j grass gives it a great advantage. It will last 

 an indefinite number of years. After having 



I been long grazed it becomes what is popularly 

 called " hide-bound," and ceases to thrive. If 

 a coulter is then run through it both ways, 



I thoroughly tearing the sod, the grass will re- 



I new its youth and spring again with great 

 vigor. 



Blue-grass, designed for winter pasture, 

 should be treated in the same way with mead- 

 ow-oat and orchard grass. Thus treated, it 

 will not only last, but will continue to im- 

 prove. This improvement will be the more 

 decided if the stock grazing it are suffered to 

 remain all night upon it. It should be re- 

 membered, in the treatment of pastures, tbat 

 a large portion of the excrement of live stock 

 is voided during the night, or when they first 

 rise in the morning. This is, of course, lost 

 to the pasture when the stock are driven to 

 the yard at night. 



Blue-grass will bear more shade than any 

 other grass, and it should, therefore, be the 

 main reliance in woodland pastures. While it 

 affords excellent grazing for horses, cattle, and 

 sheep, its greatest value is for hogs, especially 

 in woodland pastures. The trees thinned out 

 and trampled around scarcely ever fail in their 

 mast, and between the acorns and grass, hogs 

 can be raised and nearly fattened at very small 

 expense. 



Four quarts of seed should be sown to the 

 acre. No stock should be allowed to go on 

 the ground the first year, nor indeed the sec- 

 ond, until about the first of June, when a por- 

 tion of the grass has gone to seed. 



There is, perhaps, more nmriment in a 

 given amount of blue-grass than any other 

 grass with the exception, perhaps, of the Ber- 

 muda. Live stock will keep fat on it, when 

 they seem to be biting into the very clay or 

 gravel. Close grazing does not injure it as it 

 does many other grasses, from the fact that it 

 is stoloniferous, or runs and spreads from the 

 roots. On the whole, it is an exceedingly 

 valuable grass to the Southern farmer who 

 owns land rich enough to produce it. 



The grasses named, viz: meadow-oat, or- 

 chard, and blue-grass, must be our chief reli- 

 ance for permanent winter grass pasture. The 

 wild rye, or Terrel grass, will be found to be 

 a useful adjunct. These four should be sowed 

 together. 



HAY GRASSES. 



The grasses already described have their 

 value as hay grasses, but are most valuable 

 for their winter use. There are other grasses 

 which are not green during the winter, which 

 afford little aftermath, and which are valuable 

 solely for their hay. At the head of these 

 stands 



TIMOTHY. 



The history of this valuable grass is in some 

 doubt. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia of Agri- 



