34 



stifle the young grass, as a crop of small grain so often does. It is 

 preferable that the seeding be done in a crop of corn destined for the 

 silo. This being carried from the field at once, the grass has the most 

 favorable time of the year to spread and gather strength for the winter. 

 If the coi'n is grown for grain and must be stooked, there is no great 

 difficulty, but the young plants will be killed where the stooks stand, 

 and these spots must be reseeded either late in autumn or early the 

 following spring. Grass and clover sown in accordance with the 

 method just described become fully established before winter, and are 

 less liable to injury than when sown later. They become sufficiently 

 strong to give a full crop the following year. It is best that the corn be 

 cut low, and the field should be rolled the following spring as soon as it 

 becomes sufficiently firm not to be cut up by horses. Rolling at this 

 time breaks down the corn stubble, which is at that time brittle, and it 

 will be noticed in the hay to a less extent even than is the stubble of a 

 small grain." 



"When land is seeded in corn the work must be done by hand, but if 

 the field be clear there are a number of machines which will do satis- 

 factory work. Machines of the type of Gaboon's broadcast seed sower 

 will put in any of the seed mixtures which have been given. One 

 objection to machines of this class is the fact that the seed is thrown 

 high into the air, so that satisfactory work can be done only when the 

 weather is relatively calm. The wheelbarrow seed sowers will do 

 somewhat more even and satisfactory work, but these will handle only 

 the relatively small and heavy seeds ; the long or chafiy seeds cannot be 

 satisfactorily distributed by the use of these machines. A mixture of 

 timothy, redtop and clovers can be sown with a machine of this type in 

 a thoroughly satisfactory manner. 



Manuring Grass Lands. — The question of the proper selection and 

 use of maiuxres and fertilizers for grass lands may be best considered 

 under two general heads : First, manuring in preparation for the crop ; 

 and second, top-dressing. 



First, Manuring in Preparation for the Crop. — It seems best at the 

 outset under this topic to state as briefly as may be possible some of the 

 facts which seem to be best established as regards the general eff'ects of 

 manures and fertilizers. Some of these facts are equally important in 

 considering the selection of manures and fertilizers for top-dressing. 

 Our mowings almost always contain two classes of plants, — grasses 

 and clovers. The manurial requirements of these two classes of plants 

 are, in one important respect, wholly diff'erent. Both grasses and clovers 

 require a considerable amount of nitrogen, clovers more than grasses ; 

 but the grasses must take all the nitrogen which they require from the 

 soil, while the clovers, if conditions be right, can get most if not all of 

 the nitrogen they require from the air. Whenever land is occupied by 

 two or more specdes of plants there is a struggle between the different 

 kinds for its possession. If we make the conditions favorable to clovers 

 and less favorable for grasses, the former will predominate. Whether 

 the mowing will produce chiefly grasses or largely clover depends, 

 then, not alone upon the seed sown, but upon the condition of the soil as 



