89 



The 



I M MEDIA TE A FTER-Ma NA GEMEN T 



OF Ne w Pa s tures. 



A SPRIXG sowing of grasses is made at a time when atmospheric 

 changes are sometimes sudden and severe, and grass seeds are 

 not so well constituted for resisting these violent changes as corn 

 and other heavy seeds. Besides, the spring is never so dry and 

 cold as to prevent the growth of weeds, nor is the May sun liot 

 enough to scorch them to deatli ; but after sowing, a long spell 

 of unfavourable weather will seriously retard the grasses. Mean- 

 while the ground may be covered with chickweed, groundsel,^ 

 and other weeds. As these extend, the chances of the grasses 

 diminish, until at length it is possible that only a few spots will 

 be found on whicli they show sufficiently to prove that there 

 would have been a crop had circumstances been favourable. 

 In a backward spring the danger of tlie grasses being smothered 

 by weeds increases in proportion to tlie early sowing of tlie 

 seeds. 



But if early sowing has its dangers, late sowing is not free 

 from them. From the former arises the possibility that the 

 young grasses will be injured by weeds, and from the latter 

 that before the grasses are sufficiently established to endure great 

 heat, they may be scorched beyond recovery by fierce sunshine. 

 Or the soil may be so dry that the germination of the seed is 



^ Groundsel will actually flower when the thermometer stands near the fret- zing- 

 point. Humboldt observed the plant growing in the upper reaches of tlie Andes, just 

 below the region of eternal snow, where the sun had little power, and where hurricanes 

 are incessant and not a tree is able to rear it.s head. 



