PERMANENT PASTURES. 38S 



Sowing Permanent Pastures. — Much that has been 

 said in Chapter XV., with reference to the sowing of 

 temporary pastures, will also apply to the growing of 

 permanent pastures. See p. 353. Since the latter, how 

 ever, are to continue for years it is of far more im- 

 portance relatively, that a good stand of the plants 

 shall be secured. To insure the same, every care should 

 be taken in the preparation of the land, in the sowing 

 of the seed and in the care of the pastures, until well 

 established. 



Grasses for permanent pastures should be sown on 

 land that is at least reasonably clean, in a good condi- 

 tion of tilth and well supplied with plant food. To 

 secure the requisite cleanness, they should either come 

 after the bare fallow or after a cultivated crop to which 

 clean cultivation has been given. When sown in the 

 autumn, they should, as a rule, be sown on summer 

 fallowed land. When the work of preparation has 

 been well done, the land will, unless in exceptional in- 

 stances, be in' an excellent condition of preparation for 

 receiving the seed. If a crop of clover is ploughed un- 

 der in the spring and the land subsequently summer 

 fallowed by working it only on the top, the grass plants 

 sown subsequently in the autumn should start with 

 much vigor. 



When sown in the spring, it may also in some in- 

 stances be wise to summer fallow the land the pre- 

 vious season, and to bury at least one crop, as for in- 

 stance peas, to supply the land with the necessary hu- 

 mus and plant food. In other instances, it will an- 

 swer to sow the seed after one crop of corn well cared 



