TALL OAT GRASS. 215 



of tlie seasons just named it will usually be found 

 preferable to defer sowing until time has been given for 

 the sprouting of many of the weed seeds in the surface 

 soil. But sowing should not be too long deferred in 

 either ease, lest dry weather should destroy the young 

 plants in the first instance, and harsh weather should 

 do the same in the second. When sown with a nurse 

 crop the preparation of soil that is most suitable 

 for the nurse crop will also be most suitable for the 

 tall oat grass. This will mean that on nearly all soils 

 the finer the pulverization for spring sowing the bet- 

 ter, but that for autumn sowing it is not always ad- 

 vantageous to have a very fine seed bed. Since tall oat 

 grass is a large seed and has strong germinating power, 

 it will make a stand under conditions that would be 

 fatal to some grass plants that are more delicate when 

 young, but with this as with all other plants, the labor 

 expended in preparing a suitable seed bed will be wisely 

 expended. 



Sowing. — -Tall oat grass may be sown north, south, 

 east or west, in the autumn or the spring. On suitable 

 soils it will probably endure the cold of winter as 

 well as timothy, when sown in the fall, but when thus 

 sown it should be in the early autiimn, that the plants 

 may be strong before the arrival of winter. Dr. D. L. 

 Phares claims that below parallel 30 it may be sown 

 with safety from ISTovember 1st onward to the middle of 

 December. In the South especially, it is usually consid- 

 ered preferable to sow after the fall rains begin, more 

 particularly September or October. When sown thus 

 early, full crops may be reaped the following year. But 



