BuEBAu OF Ageicultuee. 253 



situation, as already noted. Yet it must be found that 

 most low ground produces a better pasture or meadow 

 if it is properly drained. Cattle mil not fatten well 

 when kept on a cold wet soil in fall and spring. Too 

 much of their food is expended in keeping their bodies 

 warm. They show the bad effect of a cold wet pasture 

 also in the smaller quantity of milk produced. 



This whole subject of caring for pasture land is 

 greatly neglected in this country. Our practice implies 

 that we believe grass will start and do well in any soil 

 without the preparation of any sort of seed bed. It is 

 a mistake. Even when we get a stand the product is 

 not what it should be if the land has been impoverished 

 by other crops and otherwise misused. 



The land cannot be prepared too well previous to the 

 sowing of either grass or clover seed. This preparation 

 may be brought about in the course of cultivating some 

 other crop, but it is not best in many cases to trust to this 

 alone. Alfalfa especially requires a good deeply plowed, 

 well pulverized soil. And after it has been so prepared 

 it must be "firmed" by the use of a heavy roller. You 

 have, perhaps, observed such plants taking hold and mak- 

 ing a fine growth on old road beds, while in the middle of 

 the field, where the soil has been best prepared, the 

 growth is scant. The young plants suffer from being 

 started in soil that is not continuous with the sub-soil 

 beneath. They may be lifted free by frost if planted in 

 fall, or dried out if planted in spring. The seed bed must 

 be made compact in order to get best results with sowings 

 made for pasture and meadow. 



With reference to spring as against fall sowing of 

 grass and clover seeds, I have to say that while in my 

 own experience with experimental plantings of many 

 different forage plants, my best results have come from 

 spring planting, yet fall planting will give good results. 

 In the case of alfalfa, it has been supposed that the 

 young plants escape crowding with annual weeds when 

 it is sown in the fall, the frost soon destroying the weeds. 

 It is desirable to get the young plants well started before 

 the weeds get ahead of them, but this can be done by sow- 

 ing very early in spring. Some of the best growths of 

 alfalfa we have had on the Experiment Farm were sown 



