RUSSIAN BROME GRASS. 179 



and also down into it, hence, on the average prairie soil, 

 such deep tillage would not seem to be specially neces- 

 sary, if necessary at all, in preparing the land for this 

 grass. 



Sowing. — Under some conditions Russian brome 

 grass may be sown diiring any month of the season of 

 growth. Under average conditions, however, the favor- 

 ite season for sowing is the early spring, especially 

 when sown with a nurse crop. But, in the northwestern 

 provinces of Canada, it is frequently sown in June. It 

 is also frequently sown in August or September, on land 

 that has been summer fallowed. There is usually enough 

 rainfall in these months, especially in June, to sprout the 

 seed. It also grows on clean land and makes a crop the 

 following season. In the southern states, when sown in 

 the autumn, a good stand is more assured than when 

 sown in the spring, but to this there may be some excep- 

 tions. When sown thus, the plants grow during much of 

 the winter ; whereas, if sown in the spring, hot and dry 

 weather following might prove fatal to the seed. In 

 areas with low winter temperature, and a small amount 

 of precipitation, many growers prefer sowing the seed in 

 the autumn. It is then ready to grow in the early 

 spring, and thus get the full benefit of all the moisture 

 that comes at that season ; when sown in the late autumn 

 a full crop cannot be made the following season ; when 

 sown alone in the upper Mississippi basin, early in June, 

 would be a good time to sow the seed on suitably pre- 

 pared land, as by that time many of the weed seeds in 

 the surface soil would have germinated and been de- 

 stroyed. But when thus sown it would be necessary in 



