28 



No class of crops is more seriously affected by a periodical 

 access of an excess of water or by exposure to a serious period of 

 dryness than the grasses. A frequent occurrence of these condi- 

 tions, even for a comparatively short period, during tlie growing 

 season causes gradually serious changes in the whole character of 

 the growth upon grass lands. A wet condition of the soil due 

 to a high local level of the water in the soil favors the appearance 

 of an inferior class of grasses ; stagnant water is destructive to all 

 good grasses ; while a continued dryness of the soil favors the 

 appearance of a class of herbaceous plants characteristic to dry 

 pastures. The stated results become in the same degree more 

 marked as these undesirable conditions occur or continue. 



Well-devised systems of underdraining or of irrigation are effi- 

 cient remedies wherever local circumstances admit of an unrestricted 

 judicious management. The growth upon wet lands not capable 

 of underdraining is not unfrequeutly materially improved by ditch- 

 ing, or by raising the surface of the land with a layer of a light, 

 sandy soil several inches in thickness above the previous level of 

 the ground water. A choice of either one or the other of these 

 modes of improvements or a combination of both depend for 

 obvious reasons on local resources, to accomplish the end in view 

 at a reasonable outlay. 



Dry lands unfavorably located for irrigation, or under the in- 

 fluence of adverse climatic conditions, as frequent scarcity of rain 

 during the growing season, offer but little inducement for the culti- 

 vation of perennial grasses. The bad effect of short spells of dry- 

 ness may be somewhat modified by adding the seeds of some valuable 

 broad-leaved fodder plant, for instance, medium red clover or 

 white clover, for the purpose of shading the ground and thereby 

 economizing existing local resources of moisture. Some of our 

 better grasses are less affected by spells of dry weather than 

 others ; a due consideration of this fact in selecting among these 

 for cultivation tends to materially improve the chances of success. 

 Meadows and pastures which are in an exceptional degree inclined 

 to a spontaneous growth of an inferior class of fodder plants and 

 weeds, if at all fit for a more thorough system of cultivation, ought 

 to be ploughed up and subsequently for some years planted with 

 some hoed crop or subjected to drill culture, for the purpose of 

 destroying effectually the foul growth and improving the physical 

 and chemical condition of the" soil. These lands prove in many 

 instances more profitable when planted with other fodder crops 

 than grasses. 



