APP3BJ.NDIX B. 



GRASSES. 



THE cultivation of the grass crop may be properly considered 

 the basis of all successful farming, the severity of our cli- 

 mate making it necessary, in all the northern and middle parta 

 of the country, to stall-feed from 

 three to seven months of the 

 year. For the means of doing 

 this, we are dependent mainly 

 upon the grasses, making the 

 subject Of pasture grasses and 

 hay one of the most important to the farmer ; and 

 ! yet this subject seems to be largely neglected by 

 farmers generally. An important condition of 

 grass" Culture is the proper selection of varieties. 

 There are thousands of kinds known to botanists, 

 but only about thirty sorts are recognized as valu- 

 able for extensive growth in this country. As a 

 matter of interest to the reader, we include a large 

 variety of illustrations of the best and most com- '.- 

 mon grasses. We first giV'e general instructions on 

 the subject, by a leading writer on agriculture : — ' 



How to Get a Good §t and of Grass. 



"There is in this country a large per cent of both past- 

 ures and meadows which yield but half the profit they would 

 if the land was fully occupied ; and when we seed land to 

 grass it usually remains, some years without reseeding, which 

 occasions a serious loss. Sometimes the fault is that not 

 enough seed is used, but of tener it is because of a badly pre- 

 pared seed-bed. 



" As a rule, grasses do best sown in autumn, and clovers 

 in early spring. On clean land a grass crop may be sown in 

 September without grain, and will make a crop of hay the fol- 

 lowing season ; but I prefer generally to sow the grasses with 

 wheat or rye, as they furnish protection to the young grass Fig. 4. — Hungarian 

 in winter, and do not smother it by a dense shade in the Gnu. 



(1139) 



