224 TFIE R7EGRASS CROP. 



seed is imported, and, unless well cleaned, is very foul 

 indeed, neither the mechanical arrangements, nor the pro- 

 pensities of foreign seed -growers seeming to lead in that 

 direction. A clean sample of Italian ryegrass, weighing 

 from 16 to 20 Ibs., may be considered as good, so far as the 

 weight is concerned. This, however, may be considerably 

 increased by the mixture of some of the heavy weeds already 

 named. 



The quantity of seed to be sown varies much, as might 

 be expected, in seed so liable to adulteration, and conse- 

 quently to variation in its produce from 2 to 4 bushels 

 to the acre may be taken as the range of quantity/ If the 

 seed be good and fresh, the former is ample to secure a 

 fine plant. A difference of opinion exists as to the best 

 time for sowing ryegrass. Some are accustomed to lay it 

 down in the same manner as " seeds" with a straw crop, 

 and thus sow i in the spring; some, again, recommend 

 that it be sown by itself, and not with a straw crop, but 

 as soon after harvest as possible; while others, recollect- 

 ing that ryegrass belongs to the same order, and has the 

 same food requirements as the straw crop, consider it would 

 be more consistent with principles were it to follow any 

 other crop, rather than one to which it is so closely allied. 

 This latter practice, which certainly is the most philoso- 

 phical, gives a greater selection of time for sowing it than 

 either of the other two one of which is bound to the 

 early spring, the other to the late autumn. If sown early 

 in the autumn, in favourable seasons it will sometimes 

 give a cutting before winter, or, at all events, it will be 

 ready for use early in the spring; and if sown in the 

 spring by itself, it will be ready for cutting or stocking by 

 the middle of June, and continue growing until the end of 

 the year ; if sown down with a straw crop, it will rarely 

 afford any keep worth remark until a month or six weeks 

 after the crop is harvested and the field cleared. It may 



