No. 4.] GRASS AND CLOVER. 123 



1. Proper Preparation of the Land. 



With no crop is thorough preparation more important 

 than with the grasses. Tlie smalhiess and numbers of the 

 seeds and the fibrous character of the roots demand a fine 

 soil. Briefly, our preparation is this ; plowing, usually in 

 the fall, at least 7 inches deep, thorough harrowing with a 

 disc harrow in the spring, then using a spring-tooth and a 

 smoothing harrow in preparing the seed bed, rolling if nec- 

 essary to crush lumps, but lastly leaving a finely pulverized 

 surface with a dust mulch, to prevent such great loss of 

 water by evaporation. A good plan to follow is, when you 

 are very sure you have harrowed enough, harrow once more, 

 and you wdll be well repaid for your labor in the increased 

 germination and growth. 



2. A Systematic Rotation of Crops. 



One of the chief reasons that the hay crops are not larger, 

 and that what we do have in a majority of cases is poor in 

 quality, is the fact that the land is kept in grass too long, 

 and is not reseeded often enough. I know of fields in the 

 neighborhood w^here I live that have not been plowed or re- 

 seeded for twelve or fifteen years. Now, no man in this op 

 any other country has been able to carry on farming success- 

 fully by the growing of one crop year after year indefinitely. 

 I need not discuss in detail at this time the advantages of a 

 good crop rotation. Every farmer needs to do this in order 

 to produce feed, — raise occasionally a crop which in itself 

 will yield money ; and he should also eternally have in mind 

 the improvement of the farm. There are three conditions 

 absolutely essential in order that plants may grow. They 

 are heat, moisture and air, or, more properly speaking oxy- 

 gen. Now, in this practice of allowing fields to remain in 

 gi-ass so long, tw^o of these conditions are injured, if not ab- 

 solutely destroyed, — that is, the moisture-holding capacity 

 of the soil and proper soil aeration. When you realize 

 that 1 pound of dry matter in hay has required from 250 

 pounds to 400 pounds of water in order to grow, the im- 

 portance of the water-holding capacity of the soil becomes 



