grasses! 



1141 



spring. I do not succeed so weU in sorting either grass or clover with oats, as they 

 Shade the land so as to make the young grass or clover very tender, and often smother 

 it out entirely ; or even' when there is a perfect stand, if the weather is hot and dry, 

 it will be killed by exposure, . I have often cut a field of oats, and found a perfect 

 stand of clover or grass, and in two or three weeks found it entirely burned put. 



" Fortunately, the seed-bed best for small grain 

 Is also the best for grass, and that is a bed fine and 

 solid. The land should be plowed early, and by the 

 nse of harrow and drag or roller be made perfectly ' 

 fine and solid. If advantage is taken of the right 

 condition of soil, it will not require a great amount ' 

 of work to get it in the right condition. The easiest 

 and best way is to keep a roller or plank drag in the 

 field, and use it each day while the land will crumble 

 and pack easily. If this is done, a moderate shower 

 will moisten it so that it will harrow fine and mellow, 

 and before the seed is sown, it ought to be in the 

 finest possible condition. If fertilizers are used, 

 there is this advantage, that you get the benefit of it 

 for two crops. If stable manure is used, I would 

 spread it after the first rolling, so that the subse- 

 quent harrowings shall pulverize and mix the manure 

 with the soil. On clay upland, bone meal can gener- 

 ally be used with profit, and instances are not rare 

 where it has paid a large profit in the increased yield 

 of wheat, and has doubled the grass crop the follow- 

 ing year.. 



''In seeding for meadow, sow pure timothy. It 

 Is the standard for hay in most markets, and sells 

 higher if pure and unmixed than with any admixture 

 of any kind. If the land is rich, use eight quarts of 

 seed to the acre, but not a bushel to three acres. I 

 have followed this rule for many years with great sat- 

 isfaction. When seeding for pasture, use as great a 

 variety of grasses as you can ; for a field set with half 

 a dozen varieties will not only produce ..more feed, 

 but stock will do better on it, particularly dairy cows. 

 I use in seeding for permanent pasture one bushel of 

 blue grass seed to the acre, four quarts of timothy; 

 and a few pounds of clover seed, partly common red 

 and partly alsike, which is longer lived that the red. 

 I also use orchard grass or redtop, according to the quality of the soil, or perhaps 

 both, sowing the Orchard grass on the richest, spots and the redtop on any wet spots 

 in the field. Occasionally, in spite of the best care, there will come a summer so 

 hot and dry as to kill the young grass and clover, and the farmer will- find that he 

 has no pasture for his stock the coming year. In this case, if he will sow a field 

 with rye at the rate of two bushels to the acre, and seed with timothy at the same 

 time, he can have the best of pastures the coming year. The rye will be succulent 

 and abundant until about June, and by that time the timothy will come on ; and in 



Fig. 8. — Downy Oat Grass. 



