28 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF MOWINGS. 



By Prof Wm. P. Brooks, Professor of Agriculture, Massachusetts Agricultural College. 



The paper on " The hay crop iu Massachusetts," prepared for the May 

 Crop Report in 1904, treated the subject in a genei-al but at the same 

 time in a fairly comprehensive way. The writer is now asked to present 

 a second paper on the same topic, and to go into greater detail concern- 

 ing certain branches of the subject. Owing to the general nature of the 

 first paper, there will almost of necessity be some repetitions of matter 

 therein contained in this ; but the writer trusts this will be pardoned, as 

 such repetitions as will be made seem necessary in order to make this 

 paper fairly complete in itself. 



The Varieties of Grasses and Clovers. 



There are but few of the species of grasses which have been recom- 

 mended for cultivation which are well known to our farmers ; and it 

 shall be the first object of this paper to give in condensed form such 

 information affecting the value for practical purposes of the different 

 species as seems likely to prove most useful in the direction of enabling 

 readers to select varieties suited to conditions. 



All the different common varieties of grasses may be first divided into 

 two great classes, Avhich may be called respectively sod-formers and 

 non-sod-formers. The sod-forming grasses are all capable of constant 

 renewal by the formation of new plants between the plants first estab- 

 lished. In the case of most of the sod-formers which will be spoken of, 

 this multiplication of the plant is accomplished thi'ough the agency of 

 an underground stem, similar to the well-known pointed, white and 

 jointed underground stem of witch grass, which is so frequently pictured 

 as growing through a potato, for example, and which is generally so 

 well known. These underground stems extend through and through 

 the ground in the neighborhood of the plants from which they start. 

 They are jointed, and provided with roots springing from near the joints. 

 At each joint there is a bud from which a new stem pushes up into the 

 air. From this centre a new plant is formed. This in turn produces 

 underground stems, and the soil is gradually filled fuller and fuller of 

 such stems, crowding through it in all directions and all sending up new 

 stems from the joints. In the ca.se of all the sod-forming grasses, then, 

 the tendency is for the turf to become constantly thicker, closer and 

 finer. The surface of the ground is completely covered, and a thick, 

 tough sod or turf, firmly held together by the underground stems and by 



