(96) 



loosen and pulverize it. Next to the clovers are peas. 

 They, it is true, do not have the same extensive system of 

 roots, but, if possible, they grow and exist more from at- 

 mospheric influences than any other plant. 



After the selection' of the kinds of grass to be sown, the 

 next consideration is to select good seed. How often has it 

 occurred to every farmer to see the result of all his toil and 

 expense culminate in failure for want of good seed ! It does 

 not always occur to the sower that his seeds are defective 

 through age, or through mixing noxious seeds -with the 

 grass seeds. Th^ high price that seeds command is a great 

 temptation to the dishonest dealer. Sometimes it happens 

 that good seeds are kept until they have lost their power of 

 germinating. It is better to save seed from the farm it pos- 

 sible. It involves but little care to do so, and is an actual 

 saving to the farmer, and then he knows what he is sowing. 

 Should it be necessary, however, to buy seeds, always delay 

 a few days to test them. This is easily done by placibg a 

 certain ascertained number on a wet cloth folded several 

 times to retain moisture, and covering them over with a 

 single thickness of the same. Keep the cloth damp a few 

 days and the good ones will swell up and sprout, while the 

 defective ones will be covered over with mould. Count the 

 sprouts, and, by an easy computation, one can then ascertain 

 the proportion of good seeds. Then sow in the proportion 

 and there will be no difficulty in securing a stand. The 

 ■wisdom of this precaution may be known when it is stated 

 that nearly all the grass seeds are worthless at the end of 

 three years, only a small proportion of them germinating. 

 Even clover seeds, that will keep their vitality when in the 

 ground and covered up, will lose this vitality in four or five 

 years, if exposed to the atmosphere. The millets are 

 scarcely worth sowing after the second year. 



No pasture, however luxuriant, is found to consist of one 

 grass alone. In all meadows sown alone, there will be 

 found naked spots, and these seem to depend upon some 



