3° PRACTICAL NOTES ON GRASSES AND GRASS GROWING. 
The man of common sense will gladly avail himself of the 
knowledge of others, and, however much he may have studied 
the subject of a good selection, he remembers that good 
seasons, good cultivation, and good management are also 
necessary for good grasses. The rough and ready rule-of- 
thumb management is no use; grass growing proper is an 
art in itself—we would almost go so far as to say it is a 
science; and so uncertain is weather and growth that, even 
with the best seeds and the best of management, success is 
never a Certainty. 
In the selection of varieties, we hold that local knowledge 
is absolutely necessary. Certain descriptions of seeds are 
adapted to one particular locality, and will not thrive in 
another, the reason for which is not at all times clear. The 
quantity of seed per acre also varies under various conditions 
and circumstances, sometimes in such a manner as would be 
astonishing to the uninitiated. For example, it is an old adage 
that ‘‘a peck of heavy and a peck of light per acre” is the 
proper quantity to sow for one year’s ley, and the farmer of 
the old school, when the question is discussed, goes further, 
and adds, “Well, you may say what you like, but it was my 
father’s custom, and so it shall be mine.” Now a peck of red 
clover is quite as good a seed, if not better, than double the 
quantity of trefoil, and as ryegrass is invariably fit to cut for 
hay before clover, and as clover is such a tillering plant, not 
half so much ryegrass is required to mix in clover as in a 
trefoil mixture. 
Twelve pounds of good red clover (about three-quarters 
of a peck), and 14 lb. to 3 Ib. of perennial ryegrass, will be 
found a fair seed in many cases; but if the land is rough more 
may be necessary, and, if there is any doubt or fear of clover 
sickness, 4 Ib. of alsike, or white clover and alsike, may, with 
advantage, be mixed with it. Many mix trefoil with clover, 
but we strongly deprecate this practice except in special cases, 
