CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



the season is hot, and usually dry. Some reduc- 

 tion in the amount of seed oats used per acre helps 

 to save from injury. 



Seeding in Rye. When thin land is desired 

 for pasture, and available fertility cannot well be 

 applied, a sod may be formed more surely by 

 seeding with rye, using the rye for pasture and a 

 mulch, than, probably, in any other way. The 

 ground should have good tillage and then be 

 seeded to rye in September at the rate of six pecks 

 of seed per acre. Timothy and red-top should 

 be seeded with it, and in the spring red and alsike 

 clover should be added. Whenever the ground 

 is dry enough in the spring to permit the tramping 

 of cattle without injury, the rye should be pastured, 

 and preferably by a sufficient number of animals 

 to hold the rye well in check. When the usual 

 time for heading comes, all stock should be re- 

 moved, and when heads do appear, the growth 

 should be clipped with a mower and left as a 

 mulch on the surface. A second clipping will be 

 required later, with cutter-bar tilted well upward. 

 When the usual summer drouth is past, livestock 

 can again be turned into the field. This method 

 is suggested only for thin fields that have failed to 

 make catches of grass, and that for some reason 



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